What’s struck me most is that, whichever lens you look through, the challenges on farm remain largely the same. But the potential solutions expand the moment you lift your eyes from what feels safe and familiar. After all those years as a Farm Vet, I felt confident about what I did know. But curiosity about what I didn’t know played a big part in my career move, “the more you know, the more you realise you don’t know.” So where has that taken me?
Problems are like onions; scratch the surface and each answer reveals another layer of questions. Knowledge for its own sake rarely solves the day- to-day pressure points on farm, but a deeper understanding makes it far easier, and much safer, to evaluate proposed solutions. Much of my journey this year has been about gathering information to enable exactly that. I’ve been re-learning and deepening my understanding of rumen function, exploring what influences it, and bringing that knowledge back to practical, workable on-farm fixes.
With surprising regularity, the challenges and solutions I’m seeing across farms are remarkably similar. The non-negotiables still come first: space, comfort, water, environment, disease. But when you layer in a deeper understanding of rumen efficiency, you can start getting far more from what you’re already putting in.
So how has all this shaped my development, and what does it bring to CMC customers? The Dunning– Kruger curve has helped me frame that. I revisited it while preparing a talk on Transition Cow management and couldn’t help but smile; I’ve watched it play out countless times over the years. Now, whenever a question is raised or a solution offered, I ask myself where it places me on that curve.
You can’t have good animal health without good nutrition, and nutrition won’t work without good animal health.
I’ve always believed the two were intrinsically linked to production on farm. Now, that belief feels absolute and non-negotiable. It’s tempting to hunt for solutions only within the disciplines we know best, but real progress comes from being willing to collaborate with multiple trusted advisors. I’m fortunate now to be in a position where I can help facilitate those conversations.
Ultimately, it all comes back to relationships and trust, things that cost very little but offer huge value to your herds and flocks. We should all feel confident picking up the phone to colleagues in other professions to share observations, even when they fall outside our usual remit. Our aims are the same: to help you control the controllables and build healthy, resilient farms.
And perhaps, from time to time, we should each ask ourselves; where are we on the curve?
Hopefully high enough to see just a bit further.