09/17/2024
To our valued clients and industry partners,
On behalf of the entire VAHS team, we would like to thank you for your continued support throughout the past year. Long awaited spring rain and a strong cattle market have given us lots to be thankful for. As we reflect on 2024, we would like to take this time to share a few highlights with you.
Dr. Craig is thoroughly enjoying retirement, but still frequents the office to provide mentorship and share a story or two. Dr. Mike had a particularly commemorative year having received the 35-Year Recognition Award from the Alberta Veterinary Medical Association, as well as Honorary Life Membership through the Western Canadian Association of Bovine Practitioners. After four years of hard work and dedication, we are excited to announce that Dr. Brian has completed his research project on feedlot lameness and successfully defended his thesis! He will formally graduate from the University of Saskatchewan this November with a Master of Science degree. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Mike and Dr. Brian on these momentous achievements.
Dr. Elizabeth and Dr. Tommy continue to be heavily involved in the industry and are thankful to have received two grants from the Beef Cattle Research Council (BCRC) to support beef cattle extension initiatives. Dr. Elizabeth rounded out her 5th and final year as Chair of the Canadian Beef Industry Conference at the most recent event in Saskatoon. She also delivered a BCRC webinar on raising replacement heifers and recently presented on the topic of performing field necropsies at the American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP) conference in Columbus, Ohio. Dr. Tommy continues to serve as our in-house expert on all things Herdtrax/Telus ARM and cow-calf data management and was invited to present at Dr. Janzen’s clinical rounds on BRD hosted by the University of Calgary. We are so thankful for the invitation to be involved in events such as these and treasure the connections we have and continue to build with our industry partners.
Speaking of industry involvement, our associate veterinarian, Dr. Brittany Sigfusson was elected to serve as a Director for the Western Canadian Association of Bovine Practitioners. She also delivered a webinar on cattle diseases impacting conception rates through Manitoba Beef Producers this past February. Most recently, Dr. Brittany was selected as a Canadian Cattle Young Leaders finalist! She will participate in a yearlong leadership program and be paired with a mentor of her choosing. Dr. Matt Kumlin continues to assist us in the field on a seasonal basis and was recently elected to the Calgary Central Feeder Association Board of Directors. Congratulations, Dr. Brittany and Dr. Matt!
We were thrilled to add Dr. Carling Matejka to our team of associate veterinarians this past March. Dr. Carling was raised on a 100-year-old Red and Black Angus seedstock operation just outside of Ponoka. She spent six years in mixed animal practice following graduation from the University of Calgary in 2018. Dr. Carling is past member of the Canadian Agriculture Youth Council and a 2023 graduate of the Canadian Cattle Young Leaders program where she was the inaugural recipient of the Reg Schellenberg Legacy Award. Dr. Carling has a strong interest in both cow-calf and feedlot medicine and currently resides on a large dairy, grain, and beef operation near Olds, with her fiancé, Stijn.
Achieving goals has been the theme for our entire staff this past year. Lauren Stefaniuk, RVT, completed her application and case logs to become a Veterinary Technician Specialist in Production Medicine Clinical Practice through the AVTCP VTS program. Pending the acceptance of her application, Lauren will begin studying for her board examination that will take place in the spring of 2025. If successful, she will become the only RVT in Alberta and just one of two in Canada with this noteworthy distinction! Lauren also recently returned from the AABP conference where she was invited to give two presentations. RVT, Sandy DeBruin, has represented VAHS exceptionally well in the stock dog world. Sandy and “Duke” were crowned Intermediate Champions at both the Art of the Cowgirl and a BC Cattle Dog Series trial this past year and competed at the prestigious Calgary Stampede.
Field service assistants, Nolan Jensen and David Peacock also have much to celebrate. This past summer, Nolan began working toward his MBA remotely through the University of Guelph and David was accepted into veterinary school at University of Calgary! This news is bittersweet as David has left VAHS to focus on his education full time, but we are thankful to have Makayla Horn, Adrianna Tooth, RVT, and Dallas Balderson, RVT, on board to fill his place. They are excited to be working alongside the rest of our amazing team including our original field services assistant, Dawn Armstrong, accountant, Adele Brunning, office administrator, Tricia Wade, and inventory administrator, Melissa McKenna. Ramping up our field team will allow our veterinarians to spend more time working on key issues that affect our clients’ sustainability and profitability. We are extremely proud of this talented group of professionals and are particularly impressed by all the effort they put into our 7th annual Advanced Beef Production Medicine rotation. This past July, VAHS delivered two packed weeks of advanced training in cow-calf and feedlot production medicine to ten aspiring “cow vets” from the University of Calgary, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Montreal, The Ohio State University, and the University of Georgia. Thank you to Drs. Mark Hilton, Eugene Janzen, and Karin Orsel for their assistance delivering this rotation. We also continue to host veterinary and technician students for a variety of clinical externships.
In addition to teaching, advancing the beef cattle industry through clinical research is also a core component of our mission. In collaboration with Dr. Nathan Erickson at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, our team recently published a study in the Canadian Veterinary Journal focused on the prevention of post-weaning BRD using coronavirus vaccines. VAHS continues to be integrally involved with several industry led projects aimed at better understanding the development, prevalence, and transmission of antimicrobial resistance, the incidence and detection of significant diseases, the advancement of feed analysis technology, and identification of genetic markers to improve calf health, to name a few. We look forward to sharing updates on some of these projects with you in the near future.
On behalf of everyone at VAHS, we extend our best wishes for a successful harvest and fall run! Please do not hesitate to stop by for a visit or give us a call if there is any way we can be of service.
Regards,
Mike Jelinski, DVM
Craig Dorin, DVM
Elizabeth R. Homerosky, DVM, MSc., DABVP
Brian Warr, DVM, MSc.
Tommy Ware, DVM
Front row L-R: Tricia Wade, Adele Brunning, Sandy DeBruin RVT, Dr. Brittany Sigfusson, Dr. Elizabeth Homerosky (partner), Dr. Carling Matejka, Lauren Stefaniuk RVT, Dawn Armstrong
Back row L-R: Melissa McKenna, Makayla Horn, Dr. Brian Warr (partner), Dr. Craig Dorin (partner), Dr. Mike Jelinski (partner), Dr. Tommy Ware (partner), Nolan Jensen, Dallas Balderson RVT
Not pictured: Dr. Matt Kumlin and Adrianna Tooth RVT
VAHS is a beef cattle specialty veterinary practice that takes pride in servicing Western Canada. Veterinary Agri-Health Services Ltd.
