Day in the life: Dr. Tim Nelson

As Dr. Tim Nelson performed ultrasounds on heifers Tuesday morning, he coaxed a frightened one: “Hey, sweetie. Easy, girl.” Once she calmed down, he was able to examine her. An unborn calf appeared on the moving sonogram. “Alright, 40 days, Mikey,” Nelson called out.

Mike Miller, who helps with the process, recorded the information.

“It’s amazing how much a calf grows in 40 days,” Nelson said, looking at his monitor.

Ultrasounds have become a regular part of the job for Nelson, 32. He is one of the veterinarians and co-owner of Creston Veterinary Clinic. He started at the clinic in June 2009, one month after graduating from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University.

Whenever he’s asked why he chose the veterinary path, Nelson gives the same answer: “From a young age, I wanted three things – to be able to work outside, work with animals and make a decent living.”

Working with cattle

Though he’s trained to treat both small and large animals, Nelson prefers large animals – especially cattle.

“I would love to be in the country every day, rather than sitting behind a desk,” he said. “Everybody hates calving season because it’s working in the middle of the night, but I love it.”

The interest began in childhood, when he milked cows. Now, he and his family own 60 cattle, 12 of which Nelson keeps at a farm east of Creston. With his love for cattle, he said being a vet in southwest Iowa is the perfect fit.

“It’s good because I try a lot of things on my own cattle. It’s easier to make recommendations to people when you do it yourself,” he said.

Reproductive work

The four vets at the clinic somewhat specialize in their work. Nelson and Dr. Carl Schuler deal mostly with large animals and often work together. Dr. Melissa Forshee and Dr. Amy Wilson work more with small animals.

Nelson does most of the reproductive treatment, including ultrasounds and artificial insemination of cattle. This year alone, Nelson has artificially inseminated about 950 cattle.

“Ultrasound has gotten really popular,” he said. “Everybody wants an artificially inseminated calf because then you know when they’re going to calve, and you can plan accordingly.”

Some of Nelson’s work with cattle includes evaluating their reproductive tracts to ensure normality and using a Pelvimeter to measure the pelvises of the heifers.

“If it’s 13 centimeters by 13 centimeters, you take 13 times 13, and divide that number by two, giving you 84.5,” he said. “So that means she should be able to have an 84.5-pound calf unassisted.”

With ultrasounds, Nelson measures crown width. For instance, 2.5 centimeters means the heifer is at about 80 days in her pregnancy. Ultrasounds will show a heifer is pregnant if she is 30 or more days along, he said.

When Nelson examined cattle Tuesday morning at Oak Hill Farms in Creston, he was requested by the owner, Dennis Richie. Bill Burkhead, a friend who helps at Richie’s farm when needed, explained why Nelson was the first choice.

“I don’t think you could find a better guy,” Burkhead said.

Perks and challenges of the job

The first couple years at the clinic were difficult for Nelson because he wasn’t well known in the community yet. But now, some clients request him specifically.

“I look at the job as a way to help people and to help make our clients money – at least that’s the cattle, pig and sheep side of it,” he said.

The challenging part for him is the time commitment. He admits the workload is hard to balance, but it’s worth it.

“Not everybody appreciates us, but a lot of people do appreciate what we do, and I think that’s the best part,” Nelson said.

The clinic’s office manager, Becky Stibbs, said a definite perk of the job is that no two days are the same. One day on the job, Nelson pulled conjoined twins out of a heifer. Another day, he found three sets of twins while examining cattle. On Monday after the tornado, the clinic received calls from Williamson County to help injured livestock who were tossed by the tornado.

“I’ve been here 25 years, and I learn something new every time I turn around,” Stibbs said.

The clinic

Though the clinic has regular business hours, the vets are on call two or three nights per week. Generally, January and July are the slowest times, Nelson said. The rest of the year stays pretty busy.

For small animals, the vets usually do surgeries in the morning and medicine, vaccines and de-worming cases in the afternoon. Work with large animals is less set in stone. Each year, the clinic does about 40 Cesarean sections on cattle. They also deal with other issues, such as lacerations on horses or hernias on calves.

“There’s some stuff we don’t do, but if we can fix it, we try,” Nelson said.

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Sidebar: Vet clinic plans $250,000 addition

The Creston Veterinary Clinic has a $250,000 building under construction, located directly behind the clinic. The building, paid for by the clinic, is scheduled to be finished in September and will be used to work with cattle and other large animals. Once it is ready for use, the clinic plans to hold an open house.

The building will be indoors and heated. It will be perfect for smaller jobs, such as a group of 30 cattle, Nelson said. The vets will still go out to farms for larger jobs.

“I’m really excited about the new addition. I’ve done C-sections on heifers in February in the middle of the night, and I’d turn around and put my scalpel blade in what was supposed to be disinfectant solution, and it had turned to ice,” Nelson said. “With this building, we won’t have to worry about snow, rain or wind.”