Veterinary Student’s Cattle Business Shines
TUCVM’s third-year student, Sydney Dicks (Class of 2027), and her husband are following their dream by running their business called Diamond D Ranch. Four months into her marriage she and her husband decided they felt like God was opening doors for them to take their cattle operation in a different direction. “Most cattle ranchers only see their cattle during one stage of life: either from birth to weaning, weaning to market weight, or merely the last few months of their lives. We wanted to do things differently, so we took our cow-calf operation (birth to weaning) and started turning it into a direct-to-consumer beef business. This means we keep a herd of mama cows on our ranch and raise the babies from birth to harvest weight all under our own supervision and care. We prioritize low-stress handling, which is better for the cows, the environment, and the consumer of that beef product,” Dicks said.
She emphasizes that their commitment to excellence doesn't stop there because they are implementing several things to constantly improve their care of their animals. Through their business, Mr. & Mrs. Dicks are looking to implement homeopathy as their system of medicine on the ranch, in the process of developing a plan for on-site processing facilities, and they are using the byproducts from their cattle to make many other all-natural products that are clean for the environment and for the user. Yes, Mrs. Dicks is quite busy doing all this while also maneuvering the challenging veterinary curriculum as a third-year student. To learn more, visit diamond-d-ranch.net.
