The waiting game is one of the most difficult parts when Oren Smith weans beef calves on his Oak Hill Farm in Avella, Pennsylvania.
Smith raises registered Angus and weans about 70 calves annually. To do so, he takes a conventional approach by simply separating cows and calves, knowing that the next few days will be filled with nonstop bawling.
âItâs not pleasant, but you have to give them time because weaning is just something that has to be done,â he said. âItâs a lot of bawling, but you just wait for it to stop. The mothers are due for a break, and some of them are instinctively ready to move on.â
Dr. Jody Kull always knew she wanted to work with cows.
Today, she not only works with cows, but with a whole host of other livestock on her clientsâ farms in northcentral and northeast Pennsylvania.
Kull, who is a large animal veterinarian, was one of several presenters featured March 22-26 during the Women in Agriculture and Conservation Conference, a series of virtual presentations organized and hosted over five days by the Columbia County Conservation District.
âI live out of my car,â said Kull, whose Valley Mobile Veterinary Service in Danville is, literally, operated from her vehicle, in which she travels about 30,000 miles annually in the course of business. About half of her practice entails working with dairy cattle, with the rest of her days spent handling cases dealing with a variety of domesticated livestock, including deer.