sales, and visiting other breeders’ farms. Luckily quite a few overlap with the cow shows, but it does make for quite a hectic schedule. In the past 15 years, I have traveled to over 20 different states, shown at over 100 shows, and have been fortunate enough to win Grand Champion at every major competition in the US at least once. In 2016, I was fortunate enough to win Supreme Champion, over all thirty other breeds, at the NAILE, one of the most coveted prizes in the sheep world. For anyone on the outside looking in, the amount of time and energy I put in might seem a bit crazy, but for me, raising livestock is my passion.
That passion, and the tremendous support of my family, has taken a small kid’s 4-H flock of three sheep to one of the most prominent breeding programs in the US. But like anything in life, choices must be made, and a desire to become a physician has forced the sheep to take a bit
of my family, has taken a small kid’s 4-H flock of three sheep to one of the most prominent breeding programs in the US. But like anything in life, choices must be made, and a desire to become a physician has forced the sheep to take a bit of back seat, at least for now. Since I have been away for medical school, we have downsized to around 20 momma ewes that have babies each spring, with most of the lambs being sold to breeders across the country, and even internationally. Even with the commitment and demands of medical school, the sheep offer me an escape and an opportunity to de-stress from the day-to-day workings of school, providing a balance in my very busy life.
With growing up on a farm, one might say that my first patient was a sheep rather than a human, but it was that early exposure to animal husbandry and veterinary medicine that spiked my interest in science. The natural progression was to pursue a career as a veterinarian, which led me to do my undergraduate degree in Animal Science at Cornell University. However, during my junior year of college, I shadowed an emergency room physician and realized that human medicine called to me in ways veterinary medicine did not. Veterinary medicine had been comfortable and familiar, but I realized that raising livestock was my hobby and outlet, and I did not want it to become my job. Coming home to the sheep after a long day helps me wind down, I didn’t want that to ever change if I had spent all day taking care of sheep.
Raising livestock provides a unique perspective and shows you that hard work and responsibility are two cornerstones of success in life. From going out to the barn at 2 am in a blizzard to deliver a baby lamb or shoveling manure and doing hay in the heat of the summer, those tasks are your responsibility, and those animals depend on you for their care and lives. Although farming and raising livestock is filled with highs and lows, an important lesson is learned when you realize that you are responsible for another being, for helping to bring them into the world, for their daily care, for their well-being. I believe it is this mentality, engrained from such a young age, that has helped me thrive throughout medical school. If it had not been for the sheep and the farm, I don’t think I would have developed the skill set necessary to be successful in the journey to become a doctor.