layout: true background-image: url(../../images/slide_background.jpg) background-size: cover class: middle --- # Advising Farmers ### Medium Quotes --- ### “You do get those that are quite willing to engage and those who are just not interested. But you get to know those quite quickly and you don’t go there – you just go to do what you’re supposed to do and leave.” --- ### “Last week we had a problem on the farm we go to. Essentially a pregnancy was missed the week before – having that relationship with the farmer, we could talk through what we were going to do and make a plan for the future. Without that relationship, that conversation could have been very different.” --- ### “… most of the time you’ll only see the farmers, other than the middle of the night, the only interaction you get is at TB or BVD tests which is a real burden to them to get out of the way. Rather than the opportunity to have a vet out to discuss things. We’re probably all guilty, we have time pressures so we want to just get the job done but it should be an opportunity to do have a general chat.” --- ### “Then the worst demoralising thing is that you have to use non-patronising language and you can’t be condescending and can’t come across as too smart but when they fail to grasp basic concepts, that’s really, really, really hard. And sometimes it’s like arguing with a brick wall because they don’t register.” --- ### “Farmers have to be a bit more business-like, more animal welfare aware. There’s a lot of farmers who are really good – if they get a bad calving, they take it as their fault, a mistake somewhere. Whereas other farmers, if things go wrong, it’s the vet’s fault, they don’t see that they could have prevented it.” --- ### “I’m going to the job they want me to do, get back out again, - have a bit of banter and that’s it. You know, I’m not going to go looking for things to improve unless they come to me and ask for something.” --- ### “it’s always difficult when you have a client who doesn’t – there’s not much chat there or when you have a client that initially you get off on a bad foot with – you know, I’ve had that, everyone has had that in their career.” --- ### “Talking to people, being part of a community, making a difference, helping animals, being part of a team with the farmer – part of the farmer’s team. Both financially and helping them through stressful times so you can be a sounding board.” --- ### “… they don’t do what you tell them to do then they turn round to you and complain at you a lot; “My calves are all dying of pneumonia”, “Did you give them the vaccine that we talked about? No? Well, what do you want me to do?”” --- ### “I’m two and a half years out now and I have definitely become accustomed to the fact that you can’t change everyone’s mind, you can’t influence everyone. I think that’s important – just to have that balance – I think a lot of people do take it to heart and it’s not healthy to blame yourself.” --- ### “I think I’d had enough successes behind me by that point so that if somebody said to me “well that’s your advice but I disagree with it, I’m not going to do it”, to be able to say, well, water off a ducks back really!” --- ### “It’s frustrating and it can be a hard pill to swallow but that can be the same in any medical field where people just don’t want to take the advice – it’s an inevitable part of the job that you can’t avoid. I learnt quickly not to take it personally.” --- ### “Nowadays I tend towards just shrugging my shoulders and thinking well not everybody is going to listen to you. There are some farmers who just want to use you for the drugs and the emergency services, and they’re not interested in proactive planning and they never will be.”