From calves to canines, Penn Vet shines at Pennsylvania Farm Show
At the nation’s biggest indoor agricultural exposition, Penn Vet faculty, staff and leadership met with young people interested in becoming veterinarians, staffed the ‘Calving Corner’ exhibit, and showed off the expertise of the animals at Penn Vet’s Working Dog Center.
2 min. read
Just as Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) has been a partner in Pennsylvania agriculture since its founding in 1884, the School has been an integral part of the Pennsylvania Farm Show.
At this year’s show, which ran from Jan. 10 to 17, celebrating America’s 250th anniversary with the theme “Growing a Nation,” Penn Vet proudly displayed its many contributions to the state’s more than $132 billion agriculture sector, as well as Pennsylvania’s rich animal culture.
“There are few annual events we get to enjoy in our state that provide an opportunity for people to manifest the things that make Pennsylvania special like the Pennsylvania Farm Show,” said Roderick Gilbert, Penn Vet’s assistant dean for Community and Engagement.
Penn Vet Dean Andrew Hoffman chats with undergraduate Gavi Burton and her father Dan at the School’s booth at the Pennsylvania Farm Show. Burton hopes to become a large animal veterinarian.
(Image: Ashley Hinton)
“We encounter so many stories from clients, elected officials, or simply folks who just want to say ‘hello’ and explore what the School of Veterinary Medicine does for the state,” Gilbert said.
Over the course of the show, which is the nation’s biggest indoor agricultural exposition, spanning 24 acres, Penn Vet faculty, staff, and leadership met with lots of young people interested in becoming veterinarians. They provided information and encouragement, especially to those students interested in becoming farm veterinarians, an area of great need.
They also spoke with many other show attendees about the School’s numerous programs and initiatives. Among those contributions are world-class veterinary education, disease surveillance, and diagnostic testing to ensure a safe and abundant food supply, biosecurity protocols, and large and small animal veterinary care, including its Field Services team which provided care to nearly 24,000 on-farm animals last year.
At the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture exhibit, a Penn Vet alumna was doing her alma mater proud.
Lucky, a German Shepherd trained at Penn Vet’s Working Dog Center, was on hand with her human partner, Shane Philipps, a state compliance and enforcement program specialist.
Her job, Philipps explained, is detecting lantern fly and box tree moth eggs usually in the products and vehicles of companies that move them from one area to another. She sniffs them out.
Mary Jane Drake, assistant professor of clinical food animal field service, was staffing the show’s Calving Corner exhibit when two Holsteins, Bertha and Pebbles, both went into labor at the same time. Pebbles gave birth to her calf, later named Quartz, at about 8:35 a.m. Then Bertha laid down to have her baby.
An experienced mother, Bertha delivered that calf—Lily—with just a little assist from Drake, but the veterinarian said the baby was bit small for a Holstein. She suspected twins. Sure enough, another labor ensued. By about 9:30 a.m., Moo-ana was born.
This story is by Rita Giordano. Read more at Penn Vet.
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