Thank a Farmer: 'I owe cattle-people a lot'
May 16—Dr. Terry Slaten grew up helping both of his grandfathers on their family farms. Today, he has a small herd of cattle of his own. He was also recently named the 80th president of the Alabama Cattleman's Association and has dedicated the entirety of his adult life to the agriculture industry, but he will be the first to tell you that he does not consider himself to be a farmer.
As the director and diagnostician for the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries Hanceville Diagnostic Lab, Slaten said he felt his role in local agriculture wasn't so much in the way of direct contributions, but was in the services he has provided over the years.
Slaten first entered the veterinary field under the supervision of Dr. Tom "Big Doc" Williamson and Dr. Tommy Little at East Point Veterinary Hospital and quickly began to gravitate toward large animal practices and now considers himself to be "cow specialist."
"I'm 65 and if you ask any male from my generation if they wanted to be a cowboy, 90% of them will say, 'Well, heck yes I did.' This doesn't really make me a cowboy, but it was about as close as I was ever going to come," Slaten said.
After graduating from Auburn, Slaten went to Montana, "where the big cattle people were," before moving back to Cullman to practice along side Little. He eventually branched out opening his own practice. It was during this time that he was approached with the opportunity to sit on the Cullman County Cattleman's Association board of directors which Slaten said he accepted enthusiastically.
Eventually he worked his way up to become president of the local association.
"I've really just always felt like I owe cattle-people a lot because they made my living. If someone makes it to where you can make a living wearing a pair of jeans and boots then you owe those people a lot. If being president could contribute to them, then that's what I wanted to do," Slaten said.
Through a little bit of luck and a spontaneous phone call offering Baxter Black — the large animal veterinarian turned entertainer featured on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson — an honorary membership, Slaten said Cullman not only became the number one association in the state, but the number one association in the nation.
"I'm not sure what that gets you other than bragging rights," Slaten said. "You can put it on a hat. We did have some hats made that said Cullman County number one Cattleman Association."
Slaten said that those efforts also drew the attention of the state organization and landed him in a position to work his way up to becoming the current statewide president. He said he is now gunning for Alabama to become the largest statewide association and that he feels as though Kentucky will be the state to beat.
He ran into Kentucky association president, Jeff Pettit, during the National Cattleman's Association Legislative Conference in April. Slaten said the two got to talking and discovered that they were both graduates of Brewer High School and that he had cared for Pettits's animals while working with Little and Williamson. He's considering purchasing Pettit an honorary Alabama membership to help push them over the edge into the No. 1 slot.
More than anything, Slaten said he hopes to continue giving back to the community that he values so much.
"I've always said you've got to be born wanting to do this. When it's zero degrees and you're out there with a hammer busting ice in the water troughs while everybody else is sitting around the fire, but I love doing it," he said.
