“The key to juggling is to know that some of the balls you have in the air are made of plastic and some are made of glass. And if you drop a plastic ball, it bounces, no harm done. If you drop a glass ball, it shatters, so you have to know which balls are glass and which are plastic and prioritize catching the glass ones.”
When Micah Jansen, DVM, first heard the glass ball theory by author Nora Roberts, she remembers instantly connecting with it.
“As working moms, we have a lot of things we are balancing,” Jansen said on The PORK Podcast. “This concept helps me remember that I must differentiate the glass balls from the rubber balls. If I drop a rubber ball, like failing to get a deliverable to a co-worker on Friday, I can get it to them on Monday. But my daughter’s Christmas program – that’s a glass ball I cannot drop because it won’t happen again.”
She says understanding the difference between the two has helped her focus and be more deliberate as a working mom. It’s also helped her learn how to prioritize and say no at times.
“When I start getting upset about not getting something done or not being somewhere I wanted to be, I have had to learn to say, ‘Okay, even though I’m upset, this is a rubber ball. It is not the end of the world if I can’t accomplish this because I’m catching this glass ball over here.’”
As a swine tech services veterinarian with Zoetis, the struggle is real at times. No two days are alike for Jansen who has been with the company since 2015. From helping people understand how different products work and troubleshooting with clients on swine health issues to assisting with research projects and hosting student interns, Jansen has learned that her role requires some juggling.
Fortunately, she enjoys the challenge.
The Face of Veterinary Medicine is Changing
“The swine industry is constantly changing,” she says. “It’s becoming more integrated, and with those changes in structure, has also come a change in what swine medicine looks like.”
More production systems today have staff veterinarians who work full time and focus on their system’s pigs. Veterinary clinics are becoming more consolidated, too. There has also been a major shift from mostly men to mostly women entering practice.
She believes this may be another reason why the structure of swine medicine has changed, too. Women are multi-taskers at heart and as more women step into veterinarian roles, Jansen says they have sought out how to find balance between their roles at work and at home as mothers so they could do both well.
“I’m still the only woman in the room sometimes,” Jansen says. “But, I’ve never wanted that to define me. I try to focus on what I know without a doubt to be true and also be humble. If I don’t know the answer to something, it doesn’t mean I can’t find it. I’ve always been somebody who would rather not know the answer and come back to someone than to tell them something that’s wrong.”
Jansen spends a lot of time working with students through internships and other research programs. She says they’ve taught her a lot along the way. She is impressed how younger generations are realizing sooner in life that you only have so much time to devote to certain things like work or school, while also taking care of your mental health and well-being.
“They are better at saying, ‘OK, you want me to complete this task, but I know I have exams next week so I can’t commit to getting it done today. However, I will get to it as soon as I’ve completed my other exams,’” Jansen says. “Never in a million years would I have ever done that! But I admire them for being honest with themselves.”
Hard Decisions
A big part of being a great swine veterinarian is making hard decisions and offering clients holistic support.
Terry Moeller, a Zoetis strategic account manager and colleague, says, “Micah always strives to do the right thing when it comes to pig health, and she has extensive knowledge of critical financials that yield a strong return on investment for our customers.”
Her grasp of the swine industry and understanding of the decisions producers face every day have helped her be successful in her role.
“The decisions that we help our clients make are going to impact essentially whether or not they can feed their families,” Jansen says. “Regardless of if you’re in private practice or if you are a staff veterinarian working for a production system, you constantly must keep in mind the other piece of it that adds up fast. When we make a decision to treat an animal, it’s not just a single animal. You have to take it times 1,000, times 10,000, or times 5 million, depending on what decision you’re making.”
Abbey Briscoe, a veterinarian with Harding Veterinary Services, says this is one of the things she admires about Jansen.
“Micah doesn’t settle for ‘easy.’ She doesn’t have her mind made up with an answer to a problem for a client and genuinely takes her time to listen to everything surrounding an issue, gathering all sides and information before thoughtfully answering,” Briscoe says. “She will follow up with additional advice and options once she has had more time to digest and gather outside expert feedback on a case. She honestly wants her clients to have the best possible insight to an issue.”
One of the not-so-easy roles Jansen plays at Zoetis is serving as a go-to-person on influenza. She admits she actually enjoys studying influenza.
“I think people don’t like flu because it can be really overwhelming,” she points out. “Part of the reason it becomes so complicated is that the influenza virus is so good at changing. We continue to see changes in the virus over time, and what makes it even more nerve-wracking is that interface between pigs and people.”
Biosecurity is key to fighting influenza. She says it’s a constant challenge of knowing what you should do next when it comes to animal husbandry, pig movement or vaccination.
“And then what do we do about caregivers? Even if they’re sick, they want to come into work because they want to be able to feed their families. But at the same time, how do we decide when a sick employee could be putting that population of pigs at risk?” she says. “There are so many moving pieces.”
If she could share one message with the industry now, it’s a simple, but profound one.
“Let’s make sure we’re doing things the right way,” Jansen says. “We know the right way. We love data in the swine industry, and we always talk about how it drives our decisions. Let’s make sure that’s not just something we’re saying. Let’s make protocol decisions based on that concept and doing everything we can to get better.”
Jansen shares more about swine health, her days at the University of Illinois and her passion for team roping and more on The PORK Podcast. You can watch it here on YouTube or listen anywhere podcasts are found.
