CVM Introduces Youth to Animal Health During Short Course

Group Photo with 4-H Students at Beef Cattle Short Course

Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM) faculty and students provided an opportunity for 4-H students to learn about equine and food animal health during Texas A&M’s 64th annual Beef Cattle Short Course Aug. 5-7.

Leslie Easterwood, clinical assistant professor of equine community practice, said the short course participants were split into two groups, with each group spending time in the Large Animal Hospital’s food animal and equine sections.

In the Food Animal Ward, Dr. Allen Roussel, professor of large animal internal medicine, led a discussion about the micro flora of the rumen.

“He talked about the importance of that flora to normal digestion in cows,” Easterwood said. “They were able to also look at a sample of rumen fluid under the microscope.

In the equine lab, the young students were able to listen to heart, lung, and gastrointestinal sounds with the stethoscope; they also were given the chance to look into a horse’s eye with an ophthalmoscope and learned about the anatomy of the equine eye.

“They were an awesome group,” Easterwood said. “They were such an impressive group of young people who are committed to a lifetime supporting animal agriculture!”

The Beef Cattle Short Course has been held at Texas A&M since 1942 and today is nationally and internationally recognized as the largest attended beef cattle educational program of its type in the world.

Attendees learn about animal health, nutrition, reproduction, breeding, genetics, selection, research, marketing, and handling.

###

For more information about the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, please visit our website at vetmed.tamu.edu or join us on FacebookInstagram, and Twitter.

Contact Information: Jennifer Gauntt, Director of CVMBS Communications, Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences; jgauntt@cvm.tamu.edu; 979-862-4216


Print
Show Buttons
Hide Buttons