By Shelby Mettlen, communications and marketing specialist
Beginning May 14, 10 incoming first- and second-year veterinary students joined the Beef Cattle Institute (BCI) at Kansas State University for two weeks of beef industry-related tours, presentations and hands-on demonstrations.
Students Braxton Butler, Izabella Carmona, Lena Fernkopf, Jared Heiman, Ashley Joseph, Megan Westerhold, Meredith Schmidt, Matthew Kelso, Libby Farney and Shanlyn Hefley are part of the Veterinary Training Program for Rural Kansas (VTPRK), a state-funded effort provided through the College of Veterinary Medicine to return veterinary graduates to rural Kansas to serve counties of fewer than 35,000 residents. The program provides up to $20,000 per year toward academic and professional development to each of five students per class over the course of four years. Graduates of the VTPRK program are required to practice veterinary medicine in a qualifying county for four years following graduation.
During the first week, the students, BCI Director Dr. Brad White and Kelly Oliver, program coordinator, toured a number of beef industry businesses across western Kansas. Starting at National Beef in Dodge City, the group moved to Forget-Me-Not Farms dairy in Cimarron, Cattle Empire in Satanta, Hy-Plains Feedyard in Montezuma, and finished up at Gardiner Angus Ranch and Ashland Veterinary Clinic in Ashland.
“The goal of hosting these students is to prepare our VTPRK students for success in rural practice,” said Dr. White. “BCI works closely with several industries involved in rural practices and we want to work with students to help them gain early experience.”
The following week, the students returned to Manhattan for five days of presentations by industry leaders, tours and cattle-handling demonstrations. The group traveled to St. Joseph, Missouri, May 24 to tour Boehringer Ingelheim and wrapped up the course with Animal Health Commissioner Dr. Justin Smith and Assistant Emergency Management Coordinator David Hogg at the Kansas Department of Agriculture building in Manhattan.
Lena Fernkopf, Circleville, Kansas, enjoyed the diversity of the tours and presentations.
“It was nice to be able to see all aspects of the cattle industry, from feedlot, to dairy, and everything in between,” she said. “I also really enjoyed getting to visit with veterinarians and learn more about what they do on a daily basis and learn more about a career in veterinary medicine in western Kansas. Overall, I think the tours and presentations offered us an opportunity to see many aspects of the industry that many students will not get to see.”
The students were recognized during the college’s 80th Annual Conference for Veterinarians in Manhattan, Kansas, on June 3.
