People always ask kids what they want to be when they grow up. Many kids say teacher, policeman, doctor, veterinarian, a princess. Rarely do kids say a farmer or dairyman, agriculture economist, an agronomist.

I’ll be honest…I wasn’t sure I wanted to work in agriculture. I only saw the challenges. No holidays, no regular paychecks, sick animals that don’t make it, drought and over bearing heat that fries a once healthy crop. Honestly… it still sounds horrible. Between 6th and the the beginning of 12th grade, I wanted to work in health care either as a physical therapist, occupational therapist, or a nurse. But it took one day on a very special ranch to change my mind.

My Story

My senior year in high school, we had to pick somewhere to job shadow. I didn’t know an occupational therapist to ask so instead I figured I would ask the rancher that we buy our breeding bulls from. That’s all he was to me at the time… looking back that seems crazy! (Quick time out, that’s not meant to be mean at all! I had met him maybe twice and I was 16) I called Greg McCurry of McCurry Bros. Angus in Mt. Hope, KS. I don’t think Greg would mind me telling this story because I think it was a special day for him too because he never had someone job shadow him before.

Finally the day arrives, I drive up to the ranch, shake hands with Greg, and he took me on a tour. We drove around looking at the bulls, harvested corn fields that would soon be grazed, and their working facility. We get back to the ranch and get out of the truck. He looks over to me and says “Well I don’t know what else to do. Would you want to A.I. a cow?”

What’s A.I.?

Now if you’re familiar with A.I. you’re probably smiling right about now. However… I didn’t know what that stood for. I thought through every combination of words and it took me all the way to the other end of the barn before I realized that A.I. stood for artificial insemination and that my arm was about to go inside a cows rectum. AWESOME…. (insert face palm emoji here)

Now Greg… if you’re reading this, you’re probably laughing. You have a farm girl on your ranch and it took me the ENTIRE LENGTH OF THE BARN to figure it out. He began explaining the process and what the tools are and how to use them. Meanwhile, I’m still trying to process what the heck I signed up for. We walked back through the barn, the French syringe in my shirt to keep the sperm warm against my skin on that cool fall day. We walked up to the cow he had selected earlier, I finally accepted what was about to happen, and “did the deed.”

Couple days later, I get to English class where the teacher told us that the next assignment was to write a paper about our experience. At this moment, I start stressing about how on earth am I going to write about artificial insemination in a professional manner. I don’t even remember what I wrote. But I definitely described the process of A.I., my arm being almost completely inside this cow, and how thankful I was for that plastic sleeved glove.

What Changed…?

I decided to tell you all this story because that day changed everything… I went from wanting to work in health care to wanting to be an A.I. technician. While in college, my dream shifted slightly after taking ASI 500 – Animal Genetics and ASI 510 – Principles of Animal Breeding. These two classes were some of my favorites. It combined my love of livestock, my newfound interest of genetics and that one-of-a-kind experience on McCurry Bros. Ranch.

After graduation, I came back home to the farm and accepted my full-time job with MKC. I still love working with cattle and plan on carrying on the family tradition but I also love working with my amazing team in Agronomy.