>>Elisabeth: I feel
like I basically live
in a science laboratory, whether
it is the crops that are grown
in the field, the nutrition that
dad has to figure on his cattle
to figure out how they're
going to gain best,
or helping my parents
in the vet clinic.
>>June: They help us in
most everything that we do,
and I just see it as life.
This is what we're doing,
and they do it along with us,
but there's nothing
that we do here
that doesn't probably
involve science.
>>Ryan: I'm the fifth
generation to operate this farm.
On this farm, we grow corn
and soybeans and some alfalfa.
Most of the corn gets fed
to our cattle that we feed
at the feed yard, so it's kind
of a fairly common Midwestern
type of family farm setting.
>>June: He has a
veterinary science Bachelor's
and I have an animal
science Bachelor's.
And then we went on and
got our Doctorate degree.
Yes, we're scientists,
and that's what we do.
But I see myself more as a
food safety veterinarian,
making sure that your food
is healthy, so you don't have
to worry about it when you
cut into a steak or a piece
of chicken or whatever
it is that you choose
for your protein source.
>>Ryan: Drove 4, so I'm putting
in 5340 high moisture corn,
and up to 5850 a supplement.
>>Elisabeth: In the livestock
industry, that's all science,
the feed rations that dad has
to plan are very in-depth,
and it takes a lot of
strategic planning and thinking.
>>Cort: Why do we give more
hay to the younger cattle?
>>Ryan: Because they
came off the pasture
and so their tummies
are used to--
>>Cort: And hay is like grass.
>>Ryan: Roughage.
Right, right.
>>When you look at the cattle,
they're a biology
experiment right there.
Ruminant nutrition, it's
different than mono-gastric,
so you can look at
nutrition on how they eat,
and the ingredients
that they eat.
>>June: So there's
a triangle here.
And this is her jugular vein,
and that's her cervical
vertebrae.
>>Ryan: You can look at them
from an immunological
standpoint,
how your vaccines prevent them
from being sick,
those kind of things.
>>Elisabeth: So this morning
I vaccinated the five-way
vaccination, so that prevented
five different viruses.
And because of the
prevention, we don't have
to use as many antibiotics.
It's much more efficient for us,
because there's less sick cattle
in the long-run, and it's for
the health of our animals.
>>Ryan: Should be good.
We get Reveler 200,
Bogo Shield cleanup.
>>Elisabeth: Computers
are definitely used
in every aspect of
our operation.
At the feed yard, we have a
program that we enter treatments
and vaccinations for
different pens of cattle.
And because of that,
we're able to make sure
that the withdrawal
dates are correct
and that cattle aren't sent
to market while there's still
antibiotics in their system.
This steer has an abscess
right here on his neck.
You're okay, buddy.
>>Cort: Normally, we just
give them the vaccine.
But usually there's
something wrong
with at least one steer other
than that it needs vaccines.
One of the cattle
had an abscess,
like right under
his chin, there.
So we had to flush it out.
>>Ryan: You can go
over to the crop side,
and you turn to agronomy.
You know, that's something
you learn when you're little,
fertilizer, nitrogen,
phosphorous, potassium.
And water conservation, erosion.
I mean, it's just seems
like it is all around us.
>>Elisabeth: Even the way
our pens are designed,
whether it's the
slope of the pens,
or how the water
run-off happens,
or even the electric
fence, that's all physics,
and that's all science.
So like I said, I literally
live in a science laboratory.
>>June: My kids, since they
were newborn have ridden
in the saddle with me at the
feed yard, and so they've looked
at steers every day
since they were little.
And so steers are what they do.
>>Erika: I go with Liz and
we ride pens at the feed yard
in the morning, and check
for sick or hurt cattle.
Also every morning we
wash our 4H show cattle,
and brush them up,
just working with them,
get them ready for the fair.
>>Ryan: Okay, question
number one,
which steer is the
Hereford market steer?
>>June: This is a
market steer class,
and so these guys will
be hamburger and steak
in a little bit, and so he's
evaluating them, good structure,
and he wants good balance, he
wants a thickness throughout
from his rear all the
way to his shoulder,
and you want a wide
back, because that's
where the main part of your
tenderloin, your prime rib,
that's where that comes from.
>>Carsten: So what we did, we
had about six different animals.
There was a market
and a breeding
for each type of animal.
And we just had to
pick the best one
that would suit it
for that thing.
Like you'd pick the
largest animal
with the best muscle for market.
>>Elisabeth: As far as
the pet clinic goes,
I've been taught anatomy
since I was three.
Just watching them and
learning from them.
>>June: So cats don't
have as long
of a cervix, or a
body of uterus.
So with dogs, that'll
stretch the womb out.
You want to get closer
to the ovaries.
With cats, you can usually
pull their ovaries out.
>>Elisabeth: The
spay that we did,
I've helped mom do those
spays for many years.
And I learn about suturing.
>>June: Their little minds,
ever since they were little
when Ryan would be
doing an necropsy
on a calf, "What organ is that?
How does that organ function?"
He did life science and anatomy
and physiology as they went.
>>Ryan: Critical thinking
is something I want my kids
to learn more than anything.
And that goes beyond the farm.
Whether, you know, just
thinking critically about,
"Does this process make sense?"
Or, "Should I do this or not?"
>>Elisabeth: I think there's
absolutely no comparison
to actually just doing the
work and watching it happen.
There's no way that you
can learn that by sitting
in a classroom and having
somebody tell you that.
I think that since I've grown
up with my parents, I've learned
so much, just basic
problem solving
that I don't think you would get
if you're not in the workforce.
>>Ryan: There ya go.
>>Cort: There we go.
>>Ryan: Okay.
Now, make sure, are
they on zero?
>>And I think through
problem solving,
I think it teaches our kids
to not be dependent on others.
Create your own opportunities,
don't depend on somebody else
to come along and
fix it for you.
And as a parent, sometimes
it's hard to step back
and let them problem solve, put
one of the kids to do a job,
and they're doing it
wrong, and you just have
to walk away and let them learn.
And my dad did that to me.
And I think as a parent,
I'm finally realizing,
he did have to bite his lip
or turn his head, and say,
"Well, figure it out."
