Growing up ..

       My name is Lisa and I've lived in Minnesota my entire life. I grew up in the small town of Sleepy Eye. While I never had many pets, I've always loved all types of animals - especially horses. 
       Namely .. BLACK horses.
       Growing up, I was the kid who had Zoobooks and checked out library books on all sort of animals. Instead of cartoons, I would watch animal shows on the Discovery channel or Animal Planet. Or if I visited a friend or family's place, I immediately gravitated towards their pets or livestock, finding more company with the pets than the people.
       I was otherwise a very shy, stoic, and untalkative Tomboy of a child. But I enjoyed my independence and being alone. I preferred my toy animals, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Batman over Barbies and babydolls.
       Looking back, I probably came off a little weird to many people. But I was a walking plethora of useless knowledge on animals. And I still seem to be - even today!
"So, you only like black horses? Sounds boring..."
Of course not - but I have a theory as to where and why this all began ​..
       When I was in 4th grade, I joined 4-H.
       At fair time, I started off showing my hamsters at the pet show and entering art exhibits - usually photos, paintings, or drawings. I would also volunteer to work at the horse shows handing out ribbons.
       As I grew older, I started showing larger animals, such as pigs and sheep. My ag teacher leased several of his Suffolk sheep out to me over the years.
​       I did very well with sheep - winning several of my classes and even going to the state fair and winning our class with my yearling Suffolk ewe, "Annabelle", in 2000. (This was way before the scary movie came out!)
       I was also part of FFA (Future Farmers of America). I was on the poultry and horse judging teams. I even won regional individual champion for poultry one year!
       I started my first job as part-time kitchen help at the age of 14 washing dishes, making pizzas, and doing prep work.
       When I turned 17, I worked at a nursing home in town as a nursing assistant until high school graduation in 2004.
"Sleepy Eye," Minnesota?
Chief Ish-tak-ha-ba, otherwise known as Chief Sleepy Eyes/Sleepy Eye, was the name of a very influential Native American chief of the Sisseton Dakota tribe​..

My education and experience ..

​       I enrolled at Minnesota State University in the fall of 2004 and graduated in May of 2009. I have a Bachelor's degree in biology (with an emphasis in animal sciences) and a minor in Chemistry. During those years, I took a very special interest in genetics and reproduction.
       In addition to my coursework, I was able to do several independent study projects for credit with a favorite biology professor; I studied parasitic controls in a swine barn, extraction, counting and development of staining techniques of the Cyathocotyle bushiensis (Digenea) parasite I had extracted from segments of deceased ducks found and turned into the University by the DNR, and observation of veterinary dental and surgical procedures at the vet clinic I worked at.
​       I was even able to take a semester of horseback riding lessons for credit!

No rest for the weary ..

       During college, I worked several part-time jobs. I started working at a sow farm near home as a farrowing technician but also, occasionally, as a breeding technician over summer and winter breaks. My primary jobs included helping sows delivery piglets and oversee the health and care of the mommas and their litter until weaning time.
​       I also worked part-time during the school year as the kennel staff at a veterinary clinic where I took care of cats and dogs in for boarding or treatment.
       I picked up pet and livestock-sitting jobs for several of the veterinarians, usually for a week or two at a time. I also picked up pet-sitting jobs through veterinarian referral to a couple of their clinic clients. My longest pet-sitting job lasted almost a full month taking care of a 17 year old dog!
       In my last year, I was able to work a temporary position at a research nursery barn through a swine vet clinic helping sort hundreds of piglets that had came in.
​       After college, I moved back home to start working back at the farm. Within and changed jobs from the sow farm to a boar stud. Within 1 year, I was made interim farm manager. And within 2 years, I was promoted to full-time farm manager. Not too bad for never having management experience!
       At the boar stud, I was able to attend several expos such as the World Pork Expo, Boar Stud Managers' Conference, trade shows, symposiums, and listen to several speakers from all over the world. I learned quite a bit on (swine) reproduction, artificial insemination, genetics, health, welfare, and more. I also picked up some very useful skills from working on a farm - maintenance, carpentry, and electrical to name a few.
       I had spent the last 12 years in pigs. The hard work was beginning to take a toll on me physically. By late 2016, in addition to other health issues, I decided to leave the swine industry. While I don't miss the long 12 hr.+ days the barn, in the I do miss being able to work with the pigs.
       Shortly after, I was hired at a Kraft Heinz plant in a neighboring town. I worked shift work out on the floor for about 2 months and started training on an upgrade position. However, the Environmental/Safety Coordinator was retiring so I signed for that position, as I had taken several environmental classes in college as well. I did get chosen for an interview, and within a few weeks, I was notified I had been awarded the position!
​       As of February in 2017, I have been working this position. I help oversee all the different waste streams of the plant: hazardous, bio-hazardous, general refuse, recycling, and byproduct. I do all of our plant's local, state, and federal reporting from air emissions, Tier II chemical inventory, toxic release reporting, etc. 
I maintain and renew all of the plant's environmentally-related local, state, and federal permits, licenses, and certifications. I oversee our spill prevention controls and countermeasures plan, risk management plan, pollution prevention plan, wastewater,/stormwater programs and sampling, and above-ground storage tanks. I'm a member of our Safety Audit Team and Emergency Response Team. I coordinate all the team on-site and off-site training, update our emergency response manual, and inspect safety/spill equipment located in the plant. I assist when people are are ill or injured or help until outside medical assistance arrives (if needed) but mostly just basic first aid. I'm also have involvement in HR-related items, such as the Company Store team and Peoples' Committee.
       In December 2016, shortly after I left the farm, I was contacted by the overseeing veterinarian of the boar stud (who happened to work at the same clinic that hired me for the temp position at the research barn in college) that I had worked with for the last 7 years. He had left the clinic and was starting up his own practice and wanted me to run his swine andrology lab - which is an independent lab that examines boar semen quality sent in from different boar studs.
       By January of 2017, the lab opened for business with very primitive beginnings. Through trial and error, I had developed analysis procedures based off all my experience working at the boar stud. Within a couple months, the total number of submission samples had grown fairly substantially and I had to hire on another person. We had also made a big purchase of the IVOS II CASA system to help with faster cell grading and motility.
       As we were fairly new, the genetic company I worked with at the boar stud had approached the vet about using us as a foundation andrology lab to help develop procedures to set up their own additional reference labs in various other countries. We agreed as they brought a substantial amount of business to the lab and continue to do so today.
      A Dutch veterinarian, Dr. Hanneke Feitsma, became the overseer of the program development for the genetic company. Over the next couple of years, we worked closely together to make our lab better. Not only did her contribution help establish the procedures needed for reporting results back to the genetic company, but it also helped our lab fine tune our current procedures and develop better result reporting to our other clients.
       Dr. Feitsma was a frequent speaker at several of the conferences I had been to in the past, so I was a little excited to begin working with someone very well-known in the field of swine reproduction. Dr. Feitsma was from Leeuwarden in the Netherlands. And, given my love for Friesians, she played a big role in helping me correctly pronounce the names of Friesian stallions!
       Unfortunately, Dr. Feitsma became very ill. And in early 2020, we learned of her passing due to an aggressive form of cancer that was discovered too late.
       Analysis includes grading morphology (CASA and microscopic) and acrosomal integrity, motility, concentration, bacterial culturing, and volumes. Our lab helps stud farms monitor their quality of semen being used at sow farms. We can track trends to maintain or correct problems and ensure equipment is functioning properly or help locate areas of improvement for stud farm lab employee training. We currently have customers in Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois to name a few, and also service studs in Mexico, and occasionally Canada and Australia.

​Hobbies and interests ..
​       Outside of my non-stop horse hobby, I’m an avid outdoor person, bake/cook, researcher, and history fanatic.
       I love to hike! I must warn people in the beginning when they hike with me, “Dropping dead is not an excuse.” When I say we are hiking, I mean we are just shy of needing climbing equipment. Pack plenty of survival gear and water because we going out of cell service on a one-lane sketchy forest road with a sheer drop off on at least one side and car-sized pot holes in a high clearance vehicle and pray that we don’t meet another vehicle on the way because someone’s going to have back up and it may become a life/death situation..  O.o
       My favorite location is out in beautiful Washington state - especially in the Cascade Mountain range. All the waterfalls, forests, beaches, mountains, and there's also Mt. St. Helen’s, and Mt. Rainier – it’s a nature lover’s paradise!
       I also love to garden for tons of flowers as well as fruits and veggies. And I enjoy making food and a ton of it. I don’t usually get to cook big meals or make a lot of sweets so it’s always a pleasure to be able to share it with friends and family. Lord knows, I don’t need to be eating all those goodies myself!
       Reading and research is one of my favorite things. I’m a very curious person by nature.
       Very rarely will a day go by where I didn’t look something up, regardless of how insignificant it may have been. I’m not much of a story reader but you will almost always find me reading about a topic on human/animal-health, horse-related (bits, horsemanship, training, etc.), or the history of horse breeds or back in the old-world and medieval times. From ancient Egyptians to Teutonic Knights, to Vikings and everything in between.
​       I've found that in order to understand the present, we must learn from the past to ensure a better future. I’m always treading along on the continuous path of knowledge and education. It’s made me a better, logical, more well-rounded person.