Fresh on the Farm

Say Hello to Our New Clinical Veterinarian for the TAU, Reedy Creek Facilities

Taking its beloved Teaching Animal Unit to the next level of excellence, the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine has created the role of clinical veterinarian for the unit and the Reedy Creek Equine Farm.

Allison West, most recently an ambulatory large animal veterinarian seeing horses, ruminants and backyard poultry and swine around Sanford, North Carolina, has been on the job since November.

“This is a new and very important role for the college,” says Kate Meurs, dean of the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine. “We hired Dr. West because she has a vision for providing the very best medical care for the horses and farm animals that live at the NC State CVM. She is very experienced and is able to work with the faculty and the students to balance the needs of our animals.”

The Teaching Animal Unit, a working farm right outside the college’s doors, allows students to learn husbandry, production management and procedures used routinely in livestock production all within walking distance of their classrooms.

West, who received her DVM from the University of Georgia in 2016 and completed an equine exclusive rotating internship at the Tennessee Equine Hospital in 2017, says she has never heard of another college that has a farm learning lab like NC State’s.

“Students get, from their first year, hands-on experience with all species,” West says. “Even if only 10 go into large animal practice long-term, everyone is being equipped with basic knowledge, how to castrate, do a physical exam. It’s invaluable. So many other schools, it depends on what you see on rotation, what comes in the hospital. This is a model all schools should adopt. It’s a really awesome program.”

Prior to the college’s creating the clinical veterinarian role, a TAU director oversaw the facility and called in expert faculty clinicians to treat animals as needed.

“Now if an animal has an issue, I can be looking at it within an hour,” says West, who also spent four years at an equine and large animal practice in California before moving to North Carolina in 2021. “These animals, the smallest scratch gets reported. They are definitely well cared for. Nothing gets missed. If they’re squinting or taking a funny step, they get looked at that day. These animals are dedicated to teaching, so we honor that. We honor their service by making sure they get the best care possible.”

As a child, West says, she was obsessed with animals. When she was 10, she took a week of horseriding lessons and never looked back.

“You never know what one week of summer camp will lead to,” she says. “Horses have been my life since then.”

West saw the Teaching Animal Unit goats through kidding season and now is preparing for calving season, which she says is especially thrilling because of the new $5.5 million dairy barn going up on campus.

“We’re very excited to get the girls in there,” West says. “It’s going to be state of the art.”

At the Teaching Animal Unit, West also works with dairy manager Mike Veach, swine manager James Lucas and small ruminant manager Marissa Thompson. Jessica Dunkley coordinates the students who work on staff at the unit.

“The TAU is just invaluable for correlating for students what they’re learning in the classroom,” West says. “Other schools, you’re in only the classroom for three years, and it’s hard to draw those connections when you’re sitting there looking at a screen. Here, you see how to do an exam on a goat and then can go out and do it. You don’t have to remember in your fourth year what you learned three years ago. This place is amazing.”

BELOW: The Teaching Animal Unit puts extraordinary learning experiences right outside the door of the college. The unit is a dynamic space for students to learn husbandry, production management and procedures used routinely in livestock production. Few, if any, other colleges have anything like it.

Ingenuity Overload

Working with a firm that creates human pneumatic compression devices, Dr. Lauren Schnabel, associate professor of equine orthopedic surgery, developed the EQ Press with former student and current DVM Irina Perdew. The press successfully treats equine swelling by moving fluid up lower limbs into the lymph nodes and could lead to relief for horses with chronic conditions, too.

“There was anecdotal data that indicated compression treatment worked well for horses, but we wanted scientific evidence that demonstrates the utility of pneumatic compression for such large animals. So we designed the NC State pilot study.” — Lauren Schnabel

The percentage of the 26 members on the new Academy of Veterinary Educators Distinguished Expert Cohort who are from NC State. The academy named six NC State experts to the cohort, which will provide feedback and guidance to the credentialing process as the new nonprofit grows.

Creative Casting

The amazing innovation of the clinicians and technicians at the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine spans into doctoring as an art form, too. One patient, who needed a neck stabilization procedure, went home with a little winter wonderland to bring a smile to the owner’s face.

PHOTO BY JOHN JOYNER/NC STATE VETERINARY MEDICINE