New vet promoting agriculture

Growing up on a local sheep farm outside of Redwood Falls and working with local farmers piqued Brady Myers' interest in his career choice as a veterinarian.

“I like working outside with livestock in a rural communities and promoting the future of agriculture on a daily basis,” he said.

The Redwood Valley High School and University of Minnesota graduate was recently hired by Dr. Scott Josephson at the Tri-County Veterinary Clinic in Taunton, where he interned in his final year of veterinary school. “(Dr. Josephson and I) talked about future opportunities throughout my internship,” said Dr. Myers, who began work at Tri-County Vet Clinic in June.

“And it was a working interview.” Myers will be performing many of the same duties as his boss.

“My primary duties are day-to-day veterinary work with an emphasis on reproductive services for cattle and small ruminants such as sheep, goats and deer,” said Dr. Myers. Dr. Josephson has often been kidded about being up to his elbows in work, referring to his heavy workload of artificially inseminating large animals that often require his services out of state.

When Dr. Myers was told about that, he flashed a large smile on his face. “I do that, too,” he piped.

“I am still in the training process to provide these services independently, but will be doing this soon with cattle, sheep, goats, and deer.”

Dr. Myers enjoys the aspect of traveling around to farms to assist in veterinary needs. Dr. Myers, 27, and his wife, Kasey, are expecting their first child, a boy, in February. Kasey is completing work on her doctorate at the University of Minnesota for Family Nurse Practitioner.

She will be employed at ACMC in Marshall beginning in the fall of 2018. Brady and Kasey currently reside in a rented farmhouse south of Porter. Kasey does clinicals locally, but also makes the commute to Minneapolis often for her college classes.

Dr. Myers plans to remain in the area and hasn't given much thought to leaving in order to running his own practice.

“I like living in this area of Minnesota and I enjoy what I do for work,” he said. “I look forward to future opportunities with Tri-County Vet Clinic.”

Besides Dr. Josephson and Dr. Myers, the Tri-County Vet Clinic includes Office Manager Trish Bordewyk and Techs Jodi Hansen and Brooke Nelson. Not everything always goes smoothly at the clinic, however.

During one busy day at the vet clinic, multiple trailers were unloading cows and a gate was left open. “We chased a cow around Taunton for a few hours until we finally got it caught,” recalled Myers, when asked if anything unusual has happened to him on the job.

Being a veterinarian can often require hard work, long hours and a lot of travel. And they often have to sacrifice planned outings with family or friends, and sometimes get emergency calls in the middle of the night.

So what part of being a veterinarian does Myers feel is the most difficult?

“Getting stains out of my clothes at the end of the day,” he joked.