A Food Animal Option is one of four species specific tracks VM4 students can take in the College of Veterinary Medicine. Students take a required block of courses which are multi-species oriented and exist in all types of clinical practice including radiology, primary care, anesthesiology, intensive care/emergency medicine, surgery (both small animal and food animal), and necropsy and clinical pathology. In addition, student rotations include instruction in small animal medicine, food animal medicine and equine medicine.
In addition, students in the Mixed Animal Option are required to take a course in clinical microbiology. Additional rotation choices are available and students may repeat some rotations in such courses as clinical embryo transfer, animal welfare, advanced feedlot, field service, swine production medicine and beef cattle calving. Fourth year students also may use external experiences for credit including preceptorships in small animal, equine and food animal medicine as well as a preceptorship at the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines.
Students can also select a rotation in the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, the number one diagnostic lab in number of submissions among veterinary colleges. This lab has been on the front lines of the recent animal health crises hitting Iowa and the nation including Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea and High Path Avian Influenza. Students working in the lab in recent years have experienced unique opportunities to go out into the field with the USDA and college veterinarians to conduct studies and control disease outbreaks threatening the country’s food security and economic well-being.
