Shaye Koester (00:04):
Hey, Hey, it's Shaye Koester and I'm your host for Casual Cattle Conversations, where we are talking about all topics related to ranching, through sharing the stories and practices of different ranchers and their operations. We are building a community and fostering innovation within the ranching industry through this podcast and my social media pages. So to be a more involved member of this community, please go check out those pages and join the conversation. Follow @cattleconvos on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube to join in on my live events and the discussions about each episode and other topics that relate to you and your operation. Now, if you'd like to become a greater part of this podcast that is impacting all 50 states, as well as several other countries, please be sure to reach out to me via email direct message, or you can find the necessary contact information for me by clicking the link in my social media bios, or go to my website, casualcattleconversations.podbean.com. But with that, thanks for tuning in. I'm glad to have you here and let's hear who our guest is today.
Shaye Koester (01:23):
Alrighty folks, thanks for hopping on again. If you're a loyal follower, I appreciate you as always, if you're new. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for trying out the show and let me know your thoughts. So that goes for everyone. But with that today, we are going to be talking about developing a strong veterinary client relationship now for this topic, because it is so important to have that relationship we all need or well need, or are working with a veterinarian of some sort for our herds. So to bring on two very experienced individuals, I brought on doctors, Troy Dutton, and Joseph Hochhalter. Now these two individuals have been practicing for many years, cover a large span of ground and many counties to serve many clients. They have experience in large and small animals, and they really do a fantastic job of talking about why it's important to have that strong relationship with your veterinarian and how you can build that.
Shaye Koester (02:29):
So with that, I am going to let them do the talking and we are going to quick, thank our sponsor.
Alltech (02:37):
When your cattle aren't healthy, you worry, and you stress Alltech offers a variety of solutions for healthier cattle and ultimately producer peace of mind. Alltech feed additives are backed by science and real customer success. Whether this means fixing a problem with calf scours, combating mycotoxins and feed stuffs, improving pregnancy rates, or even just getting a few extra pounds at weaning, Alltech's analytical services and full line of feed additives, which compliment both conventional and niche market programs have been proven to deliver profitable results for your operation visit alltech.com to learn more.
Shaye Koester (03:15):
Okay, so to start off, what are each of your backgrounds in the ranching industry?
Troy Dutton (03:20):
I'll start first. I grew up in Western Oregon on a small cow calf operation. And so that's my background. I was born and raised there before I became a vet.
Joe Hochhalter (03:31):
I grew up in the south central North Dakota on a small cattle ranch down there, diversified operation. That's kind of how I got me interested in doing what I'm doing.
Shaye Koester (03:45):
Awesome. So what do you do now?
Joe Hochhalter (03:49):
So Dr. Dutton and I are the owners of Steele Veterinary Clinic. It's a five doctor practice in central North Dakota. We serve cow calf producers and some feedlot stocker operations in this part of the state. We serve clients in almost seven counties. We cover an 80 mile radius from Steele here and then we've got a growing small animal segment of our business as well.
Shaye Koester (04:22):
So how long have each of you been practicing then?
Troy Dutton (04:26):
So I started practice back in April of 2000. So I've been here since, so that makes it over 21 years now.
Joe Hochhalter (04:35):
Yep and then joined the practice with Dr. Scherbenske and Dr. Dutton in 2008.
Shaye Koester (04:37):
Okay. So within your practice, you know, you've talked about mostly large animal, but a lot of growing small animal stuff. I know there was a lot of each the summer I worked here, but how closely are you working with those cow calf producers and feedlots?
Troy Dutton (04:55):
So I'll say take that question just because I've been here a little bit longer if that's okay. So when we first started, we did a lot of stuff kind of like emergency work and things like that, individual animal care and still do a lot of things for a lot of people like that. But over the years, we really transitioned to working with more of those cow calf producers backgrounders, sale barns and some of the feedlots we have in the area. We worked with them pretty closely on their herd health programs. Um and we like to say, we start at the calf and get them to the cow. And obviously not everything stays and goes back into the cow herd and we help get those calves to market. So we've really worked with them on their health programs and help utilize and maximize their efficiency in their calves.
Shaye Koester (05:43):
Awesome. So those are herd health programs with the rancher, with the background or with the feedlot all through the supply chain?
Joe Hochhalter (05:51):
Kind of all segments. Yeah. So I mean, you know, each client of course needs different things and different things. And so, you know, it's kind of a custom fit I would say for each person, you know, there are some clients that are pretty comfortable making some of those decisions on their own and others come to us and ask us every year what's new this year, what do I need to do differently? So, we kind of try to either change or modify things to address problems that they may have had during the past year. And kind of maybe forecast a little bit for problems that they may encounter in the future. You know, like this year, for instance it's been pretty dry here in central North Dakota. And so coming out of spring calving season, we talked to a lot of clients about, "Hey, it's going to be dry. We need to worry about anthrax and blue-green algae. We need to worry about these kinds of things." And hopefully we help them make some decisions about managing their cow herd inventory and herd health plan, you know, the whole gamete, I guess.
Troy Dutton (06:51):
I would agree with that and unfortunately this year we had to help with some of the culling decisions people had to make because it is so dry in our practice area. And like Dr. Hochhalter said every client's different and some just like a little help and others like more so we customize that to each of our clients.
Shaye Koester (07:09):
So when you're working with these for health programs, is that something where you set up a time to meet with them individually or is that just kind of when they come in and then you just kind of start the conversation there when you randomly see them and they are coming in for a product?
Troy Dutton (07:23):
Well Shaye that's a great question because every client is different about that. Some might do it when they come in and visit with one of our veterinarians, like Joe said, there's five veterinarians here. Or it depends on what segment they're in so some come out and set up programs to do everything for their herd health and everything from how to get vaccinations and proper vaccine handling and storage and all of those fun things. So every client's a little bit different like that.
Troy Dutton (07:50):
So we do some of each. Some of it's done here at the front counter, in front of the cooler, a lot of it is done chute side. When we're out there fertility testing bulls or something we're going through those protocols and they're asking questions and we're seeing how things went this spring and trying to help them out throughout the summer as far as what they need to do and how to prepare for a fall.
Joe Hochhalter (08:10):
I think along with that, it's nice for us to have multiple kinds of points of contact with them. So yeah, a lot of stuff does happen at the front counter here when they come in and they go, "You know what we are working calves. What do I need?" A lot of it does happen chute side because all of a sudden we're doing pregnancy checking or ultrasounding and we're finding out we have more opens than usual and we ask "Okay, what happened?" So we start maybe some of those conversations chute side and say, "Okay, let's come into the clinic, let's look at the data and let's figure out where failed. What do we need to do differently? What you need to do better next year?" Again, I think that's important to have multiple points of contact. Sometimes it's in church on Sunday and you have somebody that is asking you, "Hey, having this problem, what do you think?" I think that's the big thing. It's not always a set scheduled time, but it's various points throughout the production year.
Shaye Koester (09:07):
So what would you say are the main benefits of having a strong relationship between the veterinarian and the client and creating those herd health protocols?
Troy Dutton (09:18):
First of all, I think it's really important that we do work those times really well whether it's chute side, or we set up a time or have those multiple points of contact. If there are issues whether it's reproductive issues or calf health issues, or any of those issues that come up throughout the year, we're working with them. We already have that background, that knowledge. So it really helps us dig into that and find out the answers quicker, versus some of those clients that maybe don't think they require that assistance and stuff. So we can save them a lot of time and money by having that knowledge already up front versus trying to figure out all those things about vaccinations and feed management, stuff like that after something happens. So we have some background ahead of time going forward if they do have an issue, we get to the answers a lot quicker and usually end up saving them some dollars down the road. I think every situation is different as far as how much you save each client.
Joe Hochhalter (10:15):
Yeah, definitely. And you know, it is nice to have that interaction and have been out to some of these operations. And when we work closely with people and we get a couple of opportunities to get out to the ranch and then you go, "Oh, well, we're dealing with problem x. These are your different options to manage that problem, but this was not going to work for you because of your facilities or because of whatever." We know multiple things about their operation, how they put up their feed and all these certain things that maybe help us to tailor solutions for their problems, wouldn't you say?
Troy Dutton (10:51):
Yes.
Shaye Koester (10:52):
Well, and you did a great job kind of going into my next question. Or I was curious about, you know, how does this impact the profitability? And you talked about how in the long run, it can save some dollars there.
Troy Dutton (11:02):
So ever since I came in, you know and really Dr. Scherbenske and Dr. Moss started the practice so it's been here since 1967 and then Dr. Scherbenske was on board and since retired. But I think the big thing we view ourselves as is we're just not a bill to our clients. We consider our good clients, we consider an asset and we're kind of in partnership with them. We want to make sure you're using the right vaccines, doing things properly, not over vaccinating, have a strategic deworming program, have a good reproductive program and most importantly have a good feeding program because all those things help. So we're really trying to partner with our producers to make them profitable. Because I just don't want to see Shaye here right now, I want to see her kids take over years from now. So, you know, there are a lot of multi-generational farms and we try to help do that. Obviously there's other things that play in and out, but we really want to try and help those and become an asset to those producers and I think most of our good producers, and a majority of our clients would view us as that.
Joe Hochhalter (12:03):
Yeah, certainly, you know, there are clients who will jokingly, I hope, say, "You know, you guys are here just to sell me a product or whatever." But in all honesty, our success that we've had here is because our clients are successful and we've been fortunate in the short time I've been here to get the opportunity to work with some really progressive clients. They kind of push us to be more progressive ourselves and advance our services and whatever. But you know, like Troy said, we try to be an asset to those clients and hopefully they view us that way, not in the expense column, but in the asset column.
Shaye Koester (12:42):
Well, absolutely it's good to view the vet clinic as more than a bill because of the impact it does have on your herd. So you've touched on it throughout this interview process, but what would you say are the main components of that solid relationship between the veterinarian and rancher, backgrounder, or feedlot?
Troy Dutton (13:02):
I think the main components are that you have to be really honest with each other. There's sometimes whether it's a cow calf producer or backgrounder or a feedlot situation, you know, that communication has gotta be there and you have to be real honest with each other because there are times that people find it hard to say something. You don't like beating around the bush and you have to really say it in a nice way about all that's going on so we get to the problem. I think communication is key and, and having that willingness to share knowledge, you know, what do they do for us to be able to ask questions? I think that was just huge. We can talk about all those other things, but we've got to have that open communication right away and that trust in each other, we're there to help them. I think that's probably the most important thing. Dr. Hochhalter can probably expand a little bit on that but to me, that's what were it starts.
Joe Hochhalter (13:50):
Yeah, definitely. I think it's important that we are in a small rural community. The people that we're helping are our clients of course, and they're integral to the success of our business, but we're also on church council with them, in other organizations, and we see them around town. So it is a community thing as well. I think the other thing that has been kind of part of our success is just to remain available. We have the good fortune to have five veterinarians on staff here and so it makes some of the after hours and on-call fee; a little bit manageable for us. But you know I think part of the reason we are successful is our clients can call us anytime of the day on a weekend, on a holiday and they'll reach somebody here. You know, certainly maybe it's not the time that we want to be called in on the weekend or overnight. But our opinion is if somebody is going to be calling it that time, it's because they nee help. There's a lot of other places they'd rather be at two o'clock in the morning than in the clinic at Steele.
Joe Hochhalter (14:56):
So just being available and being accountable too to our clients. Certainly we fail and we make mistakes. And being honest with those clients about some of those shortcomings and learning from them and moving forward from that, I think those are all things that have kind of contributed to some of the success here.
Shaye Koester (15:16):
Oh, absolutely. So kind of going on the opposite side of that now, what are the biggest mistakes you can make with that relationship from a client perspective?
Troy Dutton (15:25):
You know, it's really important to have that relationship and just be really super honest with us. If you did something different or you changed something up or changed a protocol on your vaccinations or skipped something or forgot to do something, let us know because it's so important to us to help you resolve that situation. That's one of the things we struggle with was some of our clients that maybe don't utilize our services all the time is, you know, they're almost ashamed to tell us they did something different or something like that.
Troy Dutton (15:52):
If you are really super honest with us we're going to get to the bottom of that issue a lot quicker. If we can cut to the chase and just figure out what's going on and we can build on that relationship and get that issue resolved quicker. So I think that's so important to be there. And the other thing I think is really important is if you're having concerns or issues you need to call early. I find that over the years people are embarrassed of the situation or they had too many sick calves, or maybe they were treating more in a pen than they should've or had more death loss but if you call early, we can help you mitigate some of those things and try to figure out what's going on. Whether you're dealing with somness or mycoplasma, or maybe it's a vitamin mineral deficiency that's causing those issues. So it's really important to call us early and be really honest about what's going on.
Joe Hochhalter (16:39):
Yeah. I think those are all good things. Yeah. The more information we have, the easier it is to come up with a diagnosis or come up with some kind of plan and manage the problem because it's, it's easier to try and fix things on front end than come in in the middle of a wreck and try and straighten them out.
Shaye Koester (16:58):
Oh, absolutely. So kind of wrapping up. Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Troy Dutton (17:03):
I'll just say what Dr. Hochhalter said, we're in the community, we're here, we're available all the time. And I think that's, what is good about having a, working with your local veterinarian? We're here all the time. We're with you. We have someone on call 24/7/365 and that's really important to have that resource available because cows don't know. Things don't happen eight to five, Monday through Friday. They happen on Easter and they happen on Thanksgiving and stuff, but you we're here and available to help our clients and our clients see the value in that when they talk to friends who don't have that opportunity in other parts of the world. So that's really important to have that relationship with your local veterinarian because they are really here to help you and partner with you and make your operation successful.
Joe Hochhalter (17:49):
Yeah. And I would totally agree with that. And we want to be that resource to people. I mean, I we have people that come in and ask for advice or, you know, specifically let's say product or whatever odd thing and say, "I should remember from last year. And I just don't remember." It's like, you know, farmers and ranchers have so many things to keep track of and whether it's, you know stuff going on with the farm and ranch, activities that their kids have in high school, this, that the next thing, what chemical are they spraying on my soybeans? You know, we can't expect them to remember every drug that shouldn't be used for every situation or what your vaccine protocol should be. We try to be open and honest with our clients that that's what we're here for. We want to provide that service. We want to be available for you guys and do things like our annual meeting to provide client education and keep our producers kind of on the leading edge. That's what we're open for anyway.
Shaye Koester (18:47):
Awesome. Thank you very much for being on the show today.
Joe Hochhalter (18:50):
Thanks for having us.
Troy Dutton (18:50):
Thank you Shaye.
Shaye Koester (18:52):
And that's a wrap on that one. Folks. I hope you enjoyed that episode and really gained a lot of insight and maybe are going to set up a time to visit with your local veterinarian and see what you can do to better work together. Or if you already have that, I hope you could relate to and feel some pride in knowing that you are doing things right already. So with that, please be sure to give me that like share comment, please, please, please go comment on some of my social media posts. I know it might seem like an extra step, but I'd love to hear your thoughts, but also if you have further questions, questions that go deeper than the conversation we had today, or if you would like to engage with someone else who has already commented, that would be outstanding. But with that, thank you for hopping on and I'll catch you on the next one.
Alltech (19:44):
When your cattle aren't healthy, you worry and you stress. Alltech offers a variety of solutions for healthier cattle and ultimately producer peace of mind. Alltech feed additives are backed by science and real customer success. Whether this means fixing a problem with calf scours, combating mycotoxins in feedstuffs, improving pregnancy rates, or even just getting a few extra pounds at weaning, Alltech's analytical services and full line of feed additives, which compliment both conventional and niche market programs have been proven to deliver profitable results for your operation. Visit alltech.com to learn more.
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