We had a guest speaker for a meeting the other night and he said something that really stuck with me that can be applied in so many ways (although his was to advocate agriculture)... "Everything lives and everything dies, but death with a purpose gives meaning to life." Or something along those lines. It is so short and sweet. Animal agriculture is a hot topic, especially out on the coasts and it is our job to do everything we can to not only educate our clients, but also the general public. A few highlights from the speaker tonight included spreading the word about hormones in our beef, crunchy mammas, and how much more we are producing with less resources and how cheaply our farmers are doing it today. For example, organic grass fed beef has 1.3 nanograms of estrogen per 3 oz, conventional beef has 1.8 nanograms per 3 oz, salad 1200 ng, cabbage 2400 ng, soybean oil over 3000, and birth control pills go into 5 figures! I understand breastfeeding your child and even using clothe diapers, but those crunchy mammas that eat their placenta, ummmm gross. Why do cows do it some may ask... to keep it from attracting predators, not for health reasons! Last, but definitely not least the amazing advances in the last 60 years. In the 50's farmers in the U.S. fed 1 person on 4 acres, today less than half an acre, we have 1/3 the cows now as we did then and are making more meat, and today each farmer is feeding close to 1000 people. Astronomical if you ask me. Back then the average household spent over 22 percent of their income on groceries and today it is less than 10.
Anyway, back to my life. A couple more weeks and I'll be 1/4 DVM! Hard to believe. The past few weeks have been rough and my grades aren't really where I want them to be, but I think I'm safely above getting a D in anything. We are going over reproductive endocrinology and it is like someones 60 year old grandpa is teaching it... super awkward. Undergrad reprod was definitely no where near this level of awkwardness nor was anatomy this year. I'm ready to never have this professor again. Well, I have to work tonight so I need to get a nap in first! Nighty night.
