Sometimes we don’t always see the gifts we have before us; it takes stepping away to see the true value of what we are blessed with. And that’s where Valerie Coushman’s story begins.

Growing up in the small town of Tony, Wisconsin on a modest dairy farm that milked between 30 and 40 head in an old-fashioned tie-stall barn, Valerie couldn’t wait to live under the big city lights. Agriculture was the everyday; it was the life she had always known.

“I didn’t appreciate the agricultural industry back then,” she admits. “A week after high school graduation, I was gone. I went to college to be an interior designer, and I thought I would have this big glamorous life in a big city.”

After college Valerie landed a job in La Crosse. It wasn’t until her company opened an office in Eau Claire that she heard her farm roots begin to call.

“I met the previous owners of VES, and they were talking about dairying in a way that I hadn’t heard it talked about before. Animal comfort. Animal care. Barn design. These were not how I thought of the industry growing up,” she says.

As luck would have it, VES had a position open to help handle international logistics and customer service. Valerie took the position and the rest, as they say, is history.

Today, Valerie plays a key role in ensuring customers all over the world are connected to the resources and service they need to be successful with their VES-Artex products. Sometimes a morning starts with a call from Vietnam, sometimes Qatar, sometimes right next door here in Wisconsin. No two days are alike; that fact and the continued improvement her services provide farmers around the world are the drivers that keep her excited to come to work each day—knowing the work that she does truly makes a difference.

“I’ve watched a cow in stress, panting and unable to get comfortable,” she shares. “When a farmer calls, you can’t wait until the end of the day to fix their problems. Those cows can’t be allowed to go into heat stress; we have to act immediately.”

To date, Valerie has supported projects in Mexico, Vietnam, Malaysia and Qatar.

“I love being part of bringing cow comfort everywhere; we make it work anywhere,” she smiles.

“When you walk into a barn where the ventilation is right, it can be 80 degrees outside, but you feel a chill inside the barn. Taking a heat-stressed animal and creating an environment where it can relax and lie down, that isn’t just exciting, it’s important to me.”

Coming from a farm herself, the work Valerie does everyday is about the people and relationships. It’s about the next generation and ensuring that the operation being passed on is better than when the previous took over.

From her early days on the farm to the big city and back to her roots, Valerie has an appreciation for the hard work, dedication and tenacity it takes to keep farms around the world running. She’s found her place.

“It has all come full circle,” she says. I love what I do and I love knowing the difference it makes for the animals and the people who care for them.”