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42 WC DAIRY NEWS  CHRISTMAS 2024
Vet Focus
Kiri Stephenson recently graduated from
the Western College of Veterinary Medicine
in Saskatoon. She works as an associate
veterinarian at Greenbelt Veterinary Services
in Chilliwack, BC, servicing dairy producers
and other farms in the Fraser Valley.
What To Do When a New Vet Shows Up
Dr. Kiri Stephenson, DVM
Greenbelt Veterinary Services
Starting as a newly graduated veterinarian can be nerve-
wracking. This spring, when I started working, I had the
benefit of returning to a practice where I had previously
been a summer veterinary student. I had met our producers
and been taught by my bosses throughout my education.
I was therefore happy but nervous to head out in my own
truck on my first day. I felt there was immense pressure
to live up to the other veterinarians and to prove myself to
our producers as trustworthy and practical. Thankfully, my
first day went relatively smoothly, and the rest is history,
as they say.
However, with mostly successes and some failures since
then, I’ve focused on building relationships as well as
completing my farm calls. I can imagine that it might
be annoying when a new vet shows up on a busy day.
Eventually though, your herd vet will retire and you will be
permanently saddled with the younger replacement, so it
helps to already have a successful working relationship
with them. As such, I’ve developed a list I’m hoping can
provide insight when a new vet is scheduled for a farm call.
1. Communicate in advance about orders or vaccine
requests. Call in to the clinic the day before to make
sure your order is placed and sent along with us. Your
herd vet might carry a product out of habit for you
and know your vaccine program by heart, but a new
vet won’t necessarily know these details at the start.
3. Be thankful when we request a second opinion or extra
recheck. Our shared goal is ensuring pregnancies stick and
cows are healthy. We’d rather recheck a pregnancy in the
next couple weeks than make the wrong call and set that
cow back by months. And any new vet may want a second
opinion on a sick cow – even though it’s hard to admit we
don’t have an answer, we hope you can understand that we
aren’t as skilled as your herd vet yet. It just means we care.
4. If we are female, offer to do the dangerous jobs. It
might be surprising when we show up, but more than
ever before, newly graduating rural and large animal vets
are women. We will ask for help if needed and be grateful
when you do jobs requiring some muscle, even though
we are the strong and independent type. And it can be
dangerous to handle hormones as women, especially for
pregnant vets, so we appreciate when you do the shots.
Teamwork makes the job go smoother.
5. Consider asking for our input if you are struggling with
poor conception rates. You might want to joke about us
being the cause, but that’s not likely true, especially if it is
our first time with your herd. However, newly graduated
vets are up-to-date on new innovations. Having a fresh
set of eyes on your herd with new ideas can be a great
opportunity if you are willing and looking to make changes.
6. Let us know if you notice we can “rodeo”! If we’ve
managed to do heifer checks in the stalls or helped you
cut out and move a mean cow, we’d love to hear your
appreciation and get a compliment. It doesn’t matter
whether we were raised as a farm kid or not (and more
often these days – we’re not), every large animal vet loves
to hear you noticed we’ve got some grit!
So, remember we all started out as rookies once.
Welcoming that new vet and building a good relationship
with them will pay dividends across your herd, especially
when you need them for a particularly nasty call in the
middle of the night!
2. Have what we need prepared so your reproduction
program stays on schedule. Ask us to stock up from our
truck before we start or hand us the shots if we don’t
grab them. Please remind us what your preferences are
for breeding days and when you start any repro program.
We will not be ashamed to be corrected early, but we will
feel embarrassed if no cows get any shots because of a
miscommunication.
Complete Dairy Herd
Veterinary Services
Consulting Services
• Herd Performance Benchmarking
• Barn Design and Troubleshooting
DairySMART Education & Training Courses
Embryo Transfer & Genomic Services
Wishing you a Wishing you a
Very Merry Christmas Very Merry Christmas
...and a Happy ...and a Happy New Year in 2025! New Year in 2025!
John Dick DVM | Jason Ricka DVM | Phil Chris DVM
Beverly Chard DVM | Christina Lyn DVM | Anne Dick DVM | Kiri Stephenson DVM
8451 Harvard Place, Chilliwack, BC V2P 7Z5 • Phone: 604-792-1501 • office@greenbeltvet.com • www.greenbeltvet.com
Follow us on social media: instagram @greenbeltveterinary • facebook @Greenbelt Veterinary Services