June 21, 2024

The unexpected value of stories

Topic: Issues

By Emmery Mehlhoff, NDFB Public Policy Liaison

I’ve always loved stories. The subject doesn’t matter; give me a story and an animated teller, and you have my attention. Stories give a voice to the wisdom of the past. While science looks at data sets and isolated variables to make conclusions, stories bring the intuitive human element needed to make sense of it all.

One of my favorite stories is written by James Herriot, a British veterinarian who worked in the Yorkshire Dales in 1850. His stories center around the lives of the animals and farmers of the Dales and are riveting and often eccentric. 

One day, I was listening to his book “All Things Bright and Beautiful.” Herriot was visiting a widow with cattle grazing lush green pastures, gushing liquid manure and plagued with illness. As he described the cattle’s symptoms, they began to sound eerily familiar, and I could feel Herriot’s frustration as he unsuccessfully diagnosed and treated the suffering herd. 

You can read the rest of Emmery's post on My NDFB Life and learn how she helped solve their herd problem.