Stacking The Deck In Your Favour

Why “easy days” don’t exist — and how to tip the odds anyway

There are a few phrases in veterinary medicine that just… don’t get said.

Not because they’re wrong.Not because they’re untrue.But because the minute they leave your mouth, the day takes a hard left turn.

You’d think after enough years in a vet truck, I’d learn.

Last week, I looked at my schedule and thought:

“Today should be straight forward.”

I had a few dairy herd healths, 3 bulls for a BSE later that morning, and a handful of heifers to implant embryos into.

You already know how it all went.

A calving on the other side of the practice area called in just as I was leaving home for my first herd health, setting me back on the day immediately.The bulls at lunch seemed to have no idea that I was already behind in my day, and lolly-gagged their way through the chute…And the heifers were…well, being heifers!.

Somewhere in there, I drank cold coffee and forgot where I put my ultrasound.

It’s not just me.

Every farm has its version of this.

• “These heifers should go through the chute fast.”

• “We haven’t had scours in years.”

• “This cow never gives us trouble calving.”

• “We should be done before lunch.”

Those are dangerous words.

Not because things always go wrong—but because livestock have a way of humbling us right when we think we’ve got it figured out.

When I walk into a situation that has the potential to go sideways — a mature down cow calving with a breech calf, a colicky horse that’s in so much pain in can barely stay up for a couple of minutes before going back down and thrashing violently in pain.  These are tough scenarios, and I try to pause and think about one thing (even if it’s in my truck on the drive over):

How do I start to stack the deck in my favour?

It’s something I talk a lot about with younger vets.

You can’t control everything.But you can give yourself every possible edge.

That might look like:

• Taking the time to get the down cow positioned properly before you start trying to correct the malpresentation

• Making sure you have the right help (and enough of it)

• Taking an extra minute to assess before you commit to an idea

• Maybe using an extra bit of chemical sedation because you’re low on physical help…and having a backup dose already pulled up in your pocket

• Using the right tools—not just the closest ones

None of those things guarantee success.

But they shift the odds.

It’s the same on the farm.

The operations that seem to “have fewer bad days” aren’t just lucky.

They’re stacking the deck early.

They:

• Keep cows in the right body condition heading into calving

• Stay ahead of vaccines and prevention (insurance for the herd)

• Catch small problems before they become big ones

• Build systems so when things do go sideways, they recover faster

They don’t eliminate chaos—but they make it a lot more manageable.

So maybe the goal isn’t to avoid saying:

“Today should be easy.”

Maybe it’s to build a farm—and a plan—where even when it isn’t, you’ve already tipped things in your favour.

Something to ruminate on.

As Promised.

Less Noise.  Better Decisions.

– Jon

Jon Waito, DVM

Miller Veterinary Service