Veterinary Medicine Extension

Washington State University Veterinary Medicine Extension helps build connections between industry, producers, veterinarians, and students throughout the state of Washington. 

Our mission is to improve ag animal health and well-being today for our safety and well-being tomorrow.

Upcoming events

Calf science

Dairy calves represent the future herd but rearing them to be top performers can sometimes be challenging. Our website provides a source of information to dairy farmers, veterinarians, advisors, and calf caretakers knowledge and tips on current calf care topics to promote health. Our site provides traditional factsheets, video courses in English and Spanish, and links for science-based ways to approach calf care.

DairyLifetime

Over the past decades there has been an increasing awareness of the detrimental impact on profitability and welfare due to levels of dairy cow mortality in the U.S. and abroad. Similarly, the consequences of forced or biological culling of dairy cows due to ill health and injury have highlighted the importance of animal well-being and associated economic opportunity costs. Underlying these issues are the health and welfare implications of conditions such as lameness and mastitis with the potential to decrease production and cause pain and suffering. Such costly diseases or injuries pose an economic problem for farmers and raise the broader question of appropriate cow longevity in contemporary production.