Nestled on the Nebraska plains just outside of the tiny hamlet of Clay Center sits the Great Plains Veterinary Educational Center (GPVEC).
GPVEC is so vast, it sits on a 35,000 acres USDA facility, that staffers sometimes drive down the wrong road to get to a livestock facility. It is the home to over 8,000 beef cows, approximately 1,800 sheep, with over 900 litters of pigs born yearly.
It is also a perfect setting for clinical and professional training of veterinary students.
A cooperative agreement between Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, the University of Nebraska and the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center annually provides education to veterinary students and practitioners.
Iowa State fourth-year veterinary students gain valuable hands-on experience through clinical rotations in food animal health and production management primarily of beef cattle, sheep and swine.
“I wanted to get as much hands-on experience with both lambs and calves as I could,” said Bailee Bortz, a fourth-year Iowa State student. “The rotation proved to be practically beneficial in learning how to handle difficult dystocias while remaining calm in stressful situations.”
Bortz was at GPVEC two consecutive weeks this past spring, first with a lambing rotation followed by a calving session, both of which coincided with the busiest time for animal herd medicine.
Bortz and her fellow veterinary students utilize housing at the facility. That’s a good thing, because this rotation isn’t of the 9 to 5 variety.
During her lambing week, the vet students were up and tagging, weighing and banding lambs just after six in the morning before completing sick calls until noon. Their afternoon schedule typically consists of necropsies, classes and last-minute calls.
Students get to sleep in during their calving week as sick calls typically don’t begin until around 10 in the morning. That’s good because they are typically pulling calves from around dinner time until midnight.
The hours may be challenging, but the hands-on experiences the Iowa State students receive at GPVEC are invaluable.
“I was able to actively participate in patient carte, contribute to diagnostic processes and be directly involved in problem-solving,” said fourth-year student Amanda Keiper. “This level of responsibility helped me feel more engaged and better prepared for clinical practice.”
Fellow fourth-year student Maya McIntosh agrees.
“I gained a lot of experience working with sheep and cattle,” McIntosh said. “I didn’t know very much about lambing, but after spending time at GPVEC I now feel I have a good base of knowledge for the future.”
Bortz, Keiper and McIntosh each took the calving and lambing rotations on consecutive weeks. It turned out to be a good decision.
“I stayed on for the weekends which allowed me to assist with a couple of emergency cases,” Keiper said. “One case gave me the opportunity to assist with both a C-section and management of a uterine prolapse, which were incredibly valuable learning experiences.”
June 2026
