Have You Herd? AABP PodCasts

AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich is joined by Dr. Sarah Wager, Professor of Pharmacology and Assistant Dean at Texas Tech University College of Veterinary Medicine. Wagner is the principal investigator for a survey of bovine veterinarians and the results of this research were published in the AABP peer-reviewed journal The Bovine Practitioner.  This episode of Have You Herd? is sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim. Bacteria can strike udders from any angle. The dairy health portfolio that rises to the challenge is Mastitis 360 by Boehringer Ingelheim. It offers powerful solutions for lactation through dry-off. So, manage udder health with the ultimate tools at your disposal. Because you’re more than a veterinarian. You’re... a hero of the herd. For more information, visit this link. The objectives of this study were to find out what bovine veterinarians earn, what factors affect incomes, and what factors affect job satisfaction. Out of 900 respondents, 600 were private practitioners and this paper provides the results from the private practitioner responses working 40 or more hours per week. The overall mean income reported was $150,000 per year and the median income was $120,000 per year with a range of $40,000 to $1,000,000. Sixty-two percent of respondents were compensated via salary only, 25% were a mix of salary and production, and 6% were production only. Factors that are positively associated with increased income include years since graduation, prac­tice ownership, type-exclusive practice (beef or dairy only), and a production-based compensation structure. Wagner discusses the gender disparity in salary with women reporting lower earnings than men for all graduation year decades. We also discuss the interaction between practice ownership, gender and pay structure. The only situation where women earned the same as men were when they were compensated on a production basis vs. straight salary basis.  Wagner also reports drivers of job satisfaction. Income transparency is positively associated with job satisfaction, while being on call and working increased hours are nega­tively associated with job satisfaction.  It has been reported that only 17% of private sector jobs (vs. 80% of public sector) have income transparency. In this study, 55% of respondents were aware of how much other veterinarians at their workplace were paid. Only 10% of respondents reported leaving a job primarily due to income.  To find out more information about the AABP Veterinary Practice Sustainability Committee, visit this page. AABP members can view the presentation from Dr. Wagner at the 2023 AABP Conference in Milwaukee by going to the online CE portal found here.  Incomes and satisfaction among bovine focused veterinary practitioners in the United States and Canada. (2025). The Bovine Practitioner, 59(2), 17-25. https://doi.org/10.21423/bpj20259256

AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich is joined by AABP members Dr. Jackie Graber, chair of the AABP Mental Health and Well-Being Committee, Dr. Gabe Middleton and Dr. Alissa Wilhelm. This podcast is brought to you by the AABP Mental Health and Well-Being Committee. Graber discusses the importance of this committee for AABP members and committee resources and activities. Find AABP committee resources on this page and information about the committee here. Volunteers are needed for this committee, and our guests encourage any members interested in the committee to go to the committee page and click on the email committee link to join! The committee has completed a survey on mental health which can be found here. The committee has sponsored two presentations at the 58th AABP Annual Conference. The presentations will be delivered by Andi Davis, a registered veterinary technician from Flourish Veterinary Consulting. Find out more information about the conference schedule at this link. Registration is now open for the conference and can be found on this page. Reminder that all AABP conference sessions are recorded and available for members at no charge. It is important for veterinarians to understand what challenges students and recent graduates face so that we can provide them with resources and opportunities. Mentorship is an important part of training veterinary students, but also for ensuring a successful transition as a recent graduate. Our guests discuss how to provide that mentorship and support, which will have positive impacts on mental health. This includes offering regular feedback, providing counseling resources, allowing them ample training opportunities in their areas of interest, and being proactive with reaching out to associates.  AABP has a mentorship program to connect recent graduates to other AABP members. We encourage AABP members to sign up to be a mentor and recent graduates to request a mentor. Information about the mentorship program with links to sign up for the program can be found here.  The Mental Health and Well-Being also has support group meetings every other week. All are welcome to attend the discussion. The AABP Virtual Discussion Group meets every other Wednesday night at 8:00 pm Eastern time. Upcoming dates are June 18; July 2, 16, 30; August 6, 20 and              September 3, 17. Join the conversation by using the new link at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85054147503?pwd=qCCY826nOiUmDYaXm51oa4sK3iNehl.1 Do you want to support the initiatives of the AABP Mental Health and Well-Being Committee? Consider a donation to the AABP Foundation mental health fund at this link.   

AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich is joined by Dr. Linda Tikofsky, Senior Associate Director, Cattle Professional Services with Boehringer Ingelheim, and Dr. Amy Vasquez, Assistant Professor of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Services at Cornell University with the Quality Milk Production Services (QMPS). This podcast is sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim as part of their sponsorship package of the 2025 AABP Recent Graduate Conference opening dinner reception.  For years, common mastitis treatment decisions have focused on resolving visible inflammation rather than targeting only the infection which often leads to overtreatment. This episode explores the evolution of mastitis treatment, the latest research on protocol trends and producer decision making and the benefits of short-duration treatment. The average case of clinical mastitis lasts 4-6 days, which is beyond the labeled duration of therapy for mastitis intramammary tubes. Utilizing a protocol with a specified duration of therapy and based on pathogen profiles and culture data from the farm, can significantly decrease antibiotic use, decrease milk discard times, prevent violative residues, and be economically advantageous to the producer. Our guests also discuss steps for success in implementing short-duration therapy on farms. This includes appropriate case selection, identifying expectations, review of culture data and records, taking small steps with a culture-based treatment protocol, and ensuring compliance with the written protocol.  For more information, visit https://bi-animalhealth.com/cattle/. Further information about mastitis management can be found at https://bi-animalhealth.com/cattle/dairy/mastitis-management. Learn about the Mastitis 3600 initiative from Boehringer Ingelheim at https://bi-animalhealth.com/cattle/dairy/mastitis-portfolio. Links to papers discussed in this episode:Clinical outcome comparison of immediate blanket treatment versus a delayed pathogen-based treatment protocol for clinical mastitis in a New York dairy herd https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2016-11614Understanding the effect of producers’ attitudes, perceived norms, and perceived behavioral control on intentions to use antimicrobials prudently on New York dairy farms https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0222442Perceived barriers of dairy producers to the adoption of selective antimicrobial therapies for non-severe clinical mastitis and at dry-off in dairy cattle: A focus group study in Ontario, Canada https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2025-26491Randomized noninferiority trial comparing 2 commercial intramammary antibiotics for the treatment of nonsevere clinical mastitis in dairy cows https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2016-11258

AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich is joined by Dr. Bill Croushore and Dr. Greg Schueller to discuss the upcoming AABP embryo transfer seminar. The seminar will take place at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., July 28-30, 2025. The seminar has been approved for 24 hours of continuing education in jurisdictions that recognize RACE approval.   This seminar will include didactic lectures to introduce concepts of embryo transfer including scheduling donors, physiology of superovulation and synchronization, non-surgical embryo collection, cryopreservation, recipient synchronization, non-surgical transfer and principles of in vitro fertilization (IVF). The group will then be provided with a demonstration of embryo collection, searching and evaluation, embryo washing, handling and freezing. This will set up participants to perform embryo collection, searching and transfer and freezing embryos on their own with donor cows.  This course will prepare the novice practitioner to be able to go home and immediately incorporate embryo transfer into their practice. This will provide a new service to their clients or enable practitioners who are performing embryo transfer to brush up on these skills with an expert faculty. Each participant will perform the procedures from start to finish with the faculty providing assistance, feedback and instruction. AABP member veterinarians are welcome to register for this seminar. Participants are provided with a one-year complimentary membership in the American Embryo Transfer Association (AETA) and one free registration to the AETA annual conference as part of their registration fee.  To find out more and register for the course, visit this page. To donate to the Edwin Robertson Memorial Scholarship Fund to provide financial assistance to AABP students seeking advanced reproductive training, visit this donation page.   

AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich is joined by Dr. Renee Dewell and Dr. Grant Dewell to discuss a paper published in the Bovine Practitioner Vol. 29 No.1. The objective of this paper was to validate the effectiveness of a penetrating captive bolt when positioned behind the poll as a single-step method for humane euthanasia of cattle. We start by reviewing the three main methods of humane euthanasia for cattle which include gunshot, penetrating captive bolt and chemical. Chemical euthanasia does not just include pentobarbital, but can also include general anesthesia followed by the administration of a cardiotoxic agent such as saturated potassium chloride. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each method. The poll shot method has been approved for a secondary step after a frontal shot; however this study evaluated the poll shot method as a single-step method of euthanasia. The authors discuss the methods of the study, including sagittal section evaluation of the brain postmortem which demonstrated destruction of the medulla in the majority of the animals. The time to cardiac death was within 12 minutes with a median of eight minutes. We discuss the importance of ensuring confirmation of cardiac death as a necessary step in euthanasia protocols. The authors also describe why cardiac death is longer than respiratory arrest due to the continual beating of the heart via the sinus-atrial node until the body exhausts its supply of ATP. Monitoring for muscle fasciculations is one way to determine when the ATP supply has been exhausted in a euthanized animal, and to then check for a heartbeat via auscultation. Younger animals may have a longer time for cessation of heartbeat.  Veterinarians should make sure that farms are implementing approved euthanasia protocols, that a written protocol is provided, training for authorized staff is completed with the veterinarians, and monitoring for compliance is performed. Clinical and electrocardiographic evidence of death following use of a poll shot with a penetrating captive bolt as a single-step method for euthanasia of cattle. (2025). The Bovine Practitioner, 59(1), 9-16. https://doi.org/10.21423/bpj20259048 AABP Humane Euthanasia of Cattle Guidelines 

AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich is joined by the faculty that will teach the upcoming AABP Stocker Management Seminar. The faculty include Dr. John Groves, Dr. Dan Cummings and Dr. John Richeson. The seminar will take place in Ashland, Ohio at AABP headquarters July 11-12, 2025. Details about this seminar, including the schedule of events, registration link and hotel information can be found under the Continuing Education menu then select Seminars or directly on this page. This seminar has been approved for 15.5 hours of continuing education in jurisdictions that recognize RACE approval. The fee for the seminar is $450 and includes lunches both days. Attendance is limited to 25.  Feeder cattle populations managed on stocker/backgrounding operations represent a critical segment of the cattle industry. The stocker segment of the industry has evolved into many diverse and specialized business models in recent decades, and practicing veterinarians often find it challenging to serve stocker cattle operations. The seminar will dive into topics that are important to this segment of the cattle industry including transportation and arrival management, host immune response and altered immune function, arrival vaccination, arrival antimicrobials and ancillary products, epidemiologic principles, nutritional management and parasite control. The second day will focus on bovine respiratory disease (BRD) management, diagnostics, surveillance, case definitions and treatment protocols both parenteral and feed grade products, The group will also discuss non-BRD disease in stocker operations such as enteric, neurologic, toxic and nutritional disease. The discussion will also include break-out sessions to discuss cases and present to the group. A systems perspective on BRD and antimicrobial resistance in stocker operations will also be included. The primary mission of AABP is to provide relevant continuing education for cattle veterinarians. AABP recognizes that some veterinarians are unable to devote time attending seminars at the AABP conference. In response to this need, AABP is offering two-day seminar courses outside of the annual and recent graduate conferences. These courses are held in Ashland, Ohio at the AABP office to provide a lower cost option in a small-town atmosphere. All AABP members are invited to register for the seminar. For questions, contact Dr. Fred Gingrich at fred@aabp.org. 

AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich reviews a paper published in The Bovine Practitioner with the first author Madeline Mancke from Kansas State University. The objective of this study was to determine potential associations between Cardiac Troponin I (cTnI) serum concentration of cattle at initial bovine respiratory disease (BRD) treatment with the risk of retreatment or mortality at 60 days. BRD is the most significant disease in beef cattle and is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Developing prognostic tools may be valuable for managing individual cases. cTnI is a protein that is released into the circulatory system after myocardial damage and may be useful as a biomarker for prognostication of BRD cases. Mancke walks through the results of the paper which demonstrated that 8/318 samples had high cTnI levels and animals with high cTn1 concentrations had a significantly greater probability of not finishing the 60-day post-enrollment period. Cattle with high cardiac troponin concentrations at initial BRD treatment were more likely to have negative clinical outcomes but, in this study, very few animals had high cTnI levels. Mancke provides information about potential future research opportunities to better manage BRD cases in the feedyard.  The Bovine Practitioner is the peer-reviewed journal published by AABP. The journal publishes original research, case studies, review articles and case studies that are intended to provide information to the practicing cattle veterinarian. The journal is available open-access online and print volumes are available for purchase. There are no publication fees for authors and the peer review and submission process is managed online. Find the journal at this link.  Evaluation of cardiac troponin I as a predictor of clinical outcomes in cattle treated for bovine respiratory disease (BRD) in commercial feedyards. Bov Pract. 2025;59(1), 24-28. https://doi.org/10.21423/bpj20259053 

AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich is joined by Dr. Chris Chase, Emeritus Professor in the Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences and Dr. Curt Vlietstra, Senior Professional Services Veterinarian with Boehringer Ingelheim. This episode is sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim, manufacturer of the Pyramid line of cattle vaccines. Find more information about Pyramid/Presponse vaccines by visiting this page.  Adjuvants are a critical component of vaccines, but they can be an overlooked factor when putting together a vaccine program. The three roles of adjuvants serve in vaccines are creating a danger signal for the host, help the immune system recognize the antigen and to protect the antigen.  Historically, there has been some skepticism around vaccinating young calves early due to the presence of maternal antibodies. Our guests discuss what role vaccines serve in a calf program while recognizing the importance of colostral immunity and the purpose it serves. Adjuvants can serve an important role in young calves to help with a vaccine-induced immune response. Our guests discuss the METASTIM adjuvant, how it differs from other adjuvants, and the role it plays in boosting immunity even in the face of maternal antibodies.  Veterinarians play a critical role in developing vaccine programs for their clients' herds. This not only includes ensuring that the appropriate vaccines are selected for the herd, but also making sure that nutrition, specifically vitamin and mineral nutrition, is appropriate, stress is minimized, and vaccine storage and administration is correct. We close the podcast by discussing the future of vaccine and adjuvant technologies that veterinarians should be aware of and how these potential uses can improve cattle health. Veterinarians can go to https://bi-animalhealth.com/cattle/ or talk to their Boehringer Professional Services Veterinarian for more information.

AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich provides an update on AABP membership dues in this episode of Have You Herd? The mission of the AABP is to provide support, continuing education and advocacy for current and future veterinary professionals and the cattle they serve. The vision of AABP is to serve society as leaders in cattle health, welfare and productivity.  The current AABP dues year is July 1 to June 30. This dues year was established by the AABP Board of Directors in 1983 to reflect the timing of the Annual Conference in the fall. Much has changed at AABP since 1983 which has resulted in CE offerings year-round. This includes the Recent Graduate Conference, webinars, podcasts, free online CE, online publications, and AABP seminars outside of our conferences. The board developed a task force to develop recommendations for changing the dues year to the calendar year. The reason for the change will be to align the dues year to our fiscal year, distribute staff workload more evenly throughout the year, and allow the organization to have a more consistent cash flow based on current expense cycles. The change in our dues year to the calendar year will take effect this year. Veterinarian members, graduate students and registered veterinary technicians will have two options when renewing their dues which includes either a 6-month renewal at 50% of the annual dues rate, or an 18-month renewal at 150% of the annual dues rate. Members who select a 6-month renewal will be invoiced for the 2026 dues year in the fall/winter. Members who select an 18-month renewal will not be invoiced again until the fall of 2026.  Gingrich discusses the three buckets of activity for AABP which includes continuing education, advocacy for cattle veterinarians, and support for the initiatives of the AABP Foundation. All buckets have increased greatly over the past several years with expanded CE options, increased advocacy on a state and federal level, and increased grants and scholarships administered by the AABP Foundation.  Gingrich encourages all cattle veterinarians, graduate student veterinarian members and credentialed veterinary technicians to join our organization to support our efforts and take advantage of our resources. He also welcomes veterinary student members to join AABP to ensure they are eligible for student member benefits through AABP and the AABP Foundation. Links:Join or pay duesDonate to the AABP FoundationView online CEAABP peer reviewed journal The Bovine PractitionerFind your district director 

AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich is joined by Drs. Al Martens and Nick Mayer from Waupun Veterinary Services in East Central Wisconsin. We are also joined by Katelyn Belding, a third-year student at Iowa State University who participated in a summer internship program at Waupun Veterinary Services. Our guests discuss the importance of externships for exposing students to cattle practice, providing experiences for them, making connections for future employment opportunities, and is a way for veterinarians to give back to the future generation of cattle veterinarians. We discuss the differences between an externship, which is intended to be a shorter experience, and an internship, which at Waupun Veterinary Services is a longer summer program that provides a stipend for the student.  Students often face obstacles in gaining these experiences. This can include lack of a network to identify opportunities, financial barriers to participate, and locating housing. Practices that are interested in hosting students should recognize these barriers and work to address them. Our guests also discuss identifying a person in your practice to manage the externship and internship program. Waupun Veterinary Services also provides a pay incentive to veterinarians in the practice when they have students with them to encourage them to take the time to teach the student. It is also advantageous to introduce students to other veterinary opportunities in their community, such as industry and government-employed veterinarians that work with the practice. It is also suggested to have an intern at the practice develop a project, and Belding describes her project that she completed on her internship.  The AABP Foundation provides funding for students to attend externships. The AABP Foundation also provides externship grants for students enrolled in Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCU) through a grant from the Boehringer Ingelheim Cares Foundation. Students interested in attending practices in Wisconsin and are current or potentially future residents of Wisconsin can apply for the Wisconsin Rural Opportunities Fund (WROF) grant. Find all externship grant funding opportunities under the Students menu of the AABP website at https://aabp.org.