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After I graduated from college with my bachelor’s degree, I had the rewarding opportunity to work with the Youth Conservation Corp, a program to meet the needs of teens in a summer camp situation.

As I weave my way through life there are things that I count on. They are stepping stones in my path that I don’t worry about, like:

Dad keeps about 75 yearling and bred heifers in an 80-acre pasture just across the section line from the dairy. Here awhile back, he’d started having trouble with some wild dogs bothering them, so he’d been keeping a watch ful eye and a loaded gun.

Early in my veterinary career I developed a respect for the machinery used to restrain large beasts. No, I’m not thinking of ropes, twitches or even classic music in the dairy barn, although at one time or another I have used them all.

A recent article published on January 13, 2008, in the New York Times written by Andrew Martin was titled: “In the Farm Bill, a Creature from the Black Lagoon.” The premise of the article: Federal taxpayer dollars should not be spent on construction costs for a waste storage facility on a large livestock farm, especially those that are expanding.

In 1988, prezactly 20 years ago, I wrote a column predicting what the livestock industry will be like 50 years later: 2038.