Women in Colorado Agriculture Strengthen the Industry and Build the Future
In partnership with: Colorado Department of Agriculture
Women in Colorado agriculture contribute significantly to the strength of the ag industry, all while giving back to the community and building a future for the next generation.
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A Veterinarian and Rancher
Each step in Dr. Kayla Henderson’s life led her to become a mixed animal vet, specializing in both large and small animals. Growing up on her family’s 500-acre ranch in San Luis Valley, she raised calves and a flock of 50 ewes and participated in 4-H, Pony Club and rodeoing.
She worked at the Alpine Veterinary Hospital during high school and spent nine summers at an equine hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. Henderson attended vet school and returned home thanks to grants from the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program, to help alleviate a shortage of mixed animal vets in the San Luis Valley.
“Most vets practice on small or large animals, but then there are those of us out in the country that need to do absolutely everything,” Henderson says.
Henderson went on to become a partner and owner at Alpine Veterinary Hospital and secured a grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Veterinary Services Grant Program to upgrade the clinic’s equipment.
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Building Her Farm and Her Community
Stacia Cannon changed course from veterinary medicine to growing Topp Fruits LLC with her husband, Harrison, in Delta County. She simultaneously juggled the orchard, working for a local sheep rancher and working as a vet tech, before deciding to focus her energy on the family operation.
The high-stress, high-stakes of a veterinary tech prepared her for the emotional roller coaster of farming.
“Working in the veterinary industry, I’ve witnessed people handle stress in both healthy and unhealthy ways,” she says. “I was lucky to have mentors shape how I handle that mental fatigue, which has served me well in farming. In emergency situations, my husband says I’m really at my peak,”
When a crisis arises on the farm, Cannon draws on her past to compartmentalize and finish the job.
Cannon serves her community by representing them in the boardrooms of an electric utility co-op, a broadband company, a regional land trust, an irrigation company, and serving on various agriculture, public land and natural resources committees. She believes it is her civic duty to connect her neighbors with vital resources and information and amplify their voices to local decision makers.
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