From the Editor
I recently renewed my accreditation through the National Veterinary Accreditation Program, and it highlighted a couple of things. The first is that there are some really informative training modules within the accreditation list. One of the modules I completed this year was the “The Role of Veterinarians in Honey Bee Health”. I’ll probably still lose another hive this year but at least I might be able to figure out why!
The second consideration is that if it’s time for your renewal you might want to wrap it up sooner-than-later to avoid any logjams in the approval process due to personnel losses at USDA. In a similar vein, I wrote about the Veterinary Loan Repayment Program (VMLPR) in our previous newsletter. It’s worth mentioning here that per the VMLRP request for applications website “All NIFA Requests for Applications are currently under review” and it appears that the fiscal year 2025 timeline is currently “To be determined” across tasks. This affects everything from when the application period will open and close, to the timing of the technical assistance webinar and the letter of intent deadline. Hopefully these details will be ironed out sooner-than-later but in the meantime if you have questions regarding VMLRP, you can email vsgp@usda.gov, or reach out directly to the National Program Leader, Dr. Kathe Bjork, at kathe.e.bjork@usda.gov.
On a separate note, as the semester winds down we’re getting our summer research activities organized. It’s going to be a great summer with five veterinary or undergraduate students working on four separate projects! Lindsey Richmond is continuing her deep dive into the impacts of disease on dairy calf and cow health, with an opportunity to explore transition cow diseases relative to preweaned respiratory diseases. Hanna Sihler is taking on the data management and organization of a project assessing 10-years-worth of WADDL small ruminant disease submissions. Emma Schneider will be leading the charge on a project exploring organic dairy calf rearing and associated health and productivity. Last but not least, Elizabeth Worley and Laurin Ogg are continuing the fourth year of our endeavors to create enhanced biosecurity plans for dairy and beef producers. If you operate a livestock operation and would like to learn more about these enhanced plans please feel free to reach out to me at cmcconnel@wsu.edu.
Finally, WSU’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital is looking for input from clients, producers, and referring veterinarians regarding livestock services. If you can spare a few minutes to provide your input into a short survey it would be very much appreciated! I’ll leave it at that—enjoy the rest of the newsletter and we’ll look forward to catching up with many of you in the coming weeks and months.
Stories in this issue
- Lupine-induced Crooked Calf Syndrome Reducing losses from lupine-induced CCS requires multiple approaches to be successful.
- Cache Valley virus Cache Valley virus (CVV) is a mosquito‐borne virus belonging to the Bunyamwera serogroup of the Orthobunyavirus genus.
- The Effects of Heat Stress on Dairy Cattle Development, Health, and Performance Regardless of the many factors that have been tied to the increase in global temperature it is evident that the agriculture is affected by such changes, including the dairy industry.
- Immune resilience Resistance mechanisms could include higher immunocompetence and prevention of uncontrolled inflammation.
- WSU Ag Animal Faculty Research Updates, April 2025 Application of Genomic Selection in Beef Cattle Disease PreventionDifferences in uterine and serum metabolome associated with clinical cure failure of metritis in dairy cows
- WSU College of Veterinary Medicine senior paper highlights, April 2025 Motivations and Obstacles to Students Entering Food-Animal PracticeErgot Alkaloid Toxicity in Large AnimalsEnhancing Honey Bee Colony Health: Veterinary Approaches to Hive Inspections and Disease ManagementTheir lives are in our hands: revolutionizing bovine palpation training with models, haptics, and virtual realityEimeria Species in Large and Small RuminantsPractice management education and the development of financial empowerment in veterinary medicine