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                    John Gay, DVM PhD DACVPM               AAHP                  FDIU             VCS

In-Print & On-Line Production Medicine Information Resources

Updated March 27, 2008

(Warning: In process of updating years out of date material!)

Contents:

Introduction:

This list of selected in-print and on-line production medicine resources is intended to get you started on learning about production medicine in the species of your interest.

During your remaining time in veterinary school I strongly recommend that on a regular basis (e.g., several scheduled hours per week) you begin pacing yourself through books and papers from proceedings and journals that you select. Although you likely do not believe it, you have more free time now than you will likely ever have in a busy practice. Remember that in practice the only time that you are bringing in money is when you are doing something that is billed to a client. Anything else, such as continuing education to obtain new skills or practice marketing, is at best an investment toward doing future billable work. This is not to say that time spent at recreation to retain sanity, time with family and other time investments are not important.

Before departing veterinary school, create a basic library of relevant species material and learn the skills for locating and managing new materials. PubMed indexes much of the refereed scientific veterinary literature but misses much applied literature such as proceedings. Emerging on-line systems such as Connotea and Zotero are tools to manage and share citations. As experts have pointed out, much useful material is not part of the veterinary curriculum and cannot be mastered for even a single species during veterinary school. As will be the case in practice, mastery requires dedicated self-motivated, self-directed self-instruction. The following are selected examples and is most certainly incomplete.

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The Core Production Medicine Text:

Radostits, OM, (ed., 2001). Herd Health: Food Animal Production Medicine 3rd ed. Saunders, 884 pp. ISBN 0-7216-7694-4.Amazon

The best book on the core production medicine principles for the major species. Buy a copy and read it from cover to cover.

Table of Contents, 3rd ed:

  1. General principles of health management in food-producing animals,   (OM Radostits) 
  2. Quantitative tools for production-oriented veterinarians,   (BD Slenning) 
  3. Records systems and herd monitoring in production-oriented health management programs in food-producing animals,   (JK Reneau, M. Kinsel) 
  4. Control of infectious diseases in food-producing animals,   (OM Radostits) 
  5. Investigation of disease outbreaks and suboptimal productivity,   (C Waldner)
  6. Dairy cattle health and production,    (PL Ruegg) 
  7. Maintaining reproductive efficiency in dairy cattle,   (PW Farin, BD Slenning) 
  8. Culling and genetics in dairy cattle,   (GE Shook) 
  9. Health management of dairy calves and replacement heifers,   (AJ Heinrichs, OM Radostits) 
  10. Mastitis control in dairy herds,  (R Erskine) 
  11. Dairy cattle nutrition,   (BJ Gerloff) 
  12. Dairy cattle housing and environmental management,   (WG Bickert, OM Radostits) 
  13. Health management in beef cattle breeding herds,   (PJ Chenoweth, MW Sanderson) 
  14. Health and production management in beef feedlots,   (RA Smith, GL Stokka, OM Radostits, DD Griffin) 
  15. Planned animal health and production in swine herds,   (RB Morrison, SA Dee, J Deen) 
  16. Health and production management for sheep  (PR Scott)

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Ancillary Production Medicine Texts:

Brand, A, JPTM Noordhuzien, YH Schukken, eds. (1998). Herd Health and Production Management in Dairy Practice. 3rd reprint Wageningen Pers. ISBN 978-90-74134-34-7  466 pp. pprbk. (about $124US)  Amazon

I highly recommend this text for any veterinarian engaged in dairy practice. This text is written by 30 authors, including 10 from the US.

  1. Herd Health and Production Management Programs 
  2. Monitoring Replacement Rearing
  3. Monitoring Dry Period Management
  4. Monitoring Milk Production
  5. Monitoring Reproductive Performance
  6. Monitoring Udder Health
  7. Monitoring Foot Health
  8. Approach for Control of Infectious Diseases in Cattle Herds
  9. Animal Health and Dairy Production in Developing Countries

Chenoweth, PJ, MW Sanderson (2005). Beef Practice: Cow-calf Production Medicine. Blackwell Publ. ISBN: 9780813804026 328 pages Amazon

  1. Introduction   (PJ Chenoweth, G Rupp)
  2. Cow/Calf Production Principles   (PJ Chenoweth)
  3. Record and Epidemiology for Production Medicine   (MW Sanderson)
  4. Herd Health Management   (PJ Chenoweth)
  5. Biosecurity for Beef Cow/Calf Production   (MW Sanderson, DR Smith)
  6. Beef Cowherd Nutrition and Management   (TT Marston)
  7. Behavior and Handling   (T Grandin)
  8. Replacement Heifers   (RL Larson)
  9. Breeding Bull Selection, Assessment, and Management   (PJ Chenoweth)
  10. Assisted Reproduction   (PJ Chenoweth)
  11. Calving and Calf Management in Beef Herds   (MW Sanderson)
  12. Beef Cattle Economics and Finance   (G Dewell, T Kasari)
  13. Beef Quality Assurance   (DD Griffin)
  14. Cow/Calf Welfare Considerations   (PJ Chenoweth)
  15. Environmental Aspects of Livestock Production   (G Nader, G Veserat, V Veserat, L Fitzhugh)

Youngquist, RS, ed. (1997). Current Therapy in Large Animal Theriogenology. WB Saunders, ISBN 0-7216-5396-0, $126.00, 800 p.

Several chapters are relevant to production medicine for dairy, beef and swine. Read those relevant to your species interest but don't overlook the others   because they may contain important ideas that you can apply to your area of interest. Also, scan the references at the end of chapters for good papers.

  • Chapt. 54:403-415. Effects of Environment on Bovine Reproduction.   (PJ Hansen)
  • Chapt. 55:416-423. Effects of Nutrition on Reproduction in Dairy Cattle.   (JN Spain, M Lucy, DK Hardin)
  • Chapt. 56:423-428. Effects of Nutrition on Reproductive Performance of Beef Cattle.   (WS Swecker)
  • Chapt. 58:441-451. Reproductive Health Programs for Dairy Herds: Analysis of Records for Assessment of Reproductive Performance. (J Fetrow, S Stewart, S Eicker)
  • Chapt. 59:451-456. Reproductive Health Programs for Beef Herds: Analysis of Records for Assessment of Reproductive Performance.   (TJ Engelken)
  • Chapt. 61:473-478. Management of Reproduction in Dairy Herds Utilizing Bovine Somatotropin.   (WJ Cole, MC Lucy)
  • Chapt. 93:643-649. Reproductive Health Management Programs (Sheep).   (PI Menzies)
  • Chapt. 113:758-761. Influence of Environment and Housing on Swine Reproduction.   (JM Zulovich, RC Tubbs)
  • Chapt. 115:766-770. Reproductive Health Programs for Swine.   (J Floyd, RC Tubbs)
  • Chapt. 116:770-775. Using Statistical Process Control to Investigate Reproductive Failure.   (RB Morrison, GD Dial, PB Bahnson, WE Marsh, JE Collins, D Polson)

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Applied Agricultural Economics:

Familiarity with the applied economics aspect of farm management is absolutely essential to the successful practice of production medicine. Without a working understanding of this material, you cannot evaluate the "bottom line" effect of production medicine interventions and alternatives, which ultimately is the most important effect from the client's perspective. You need to have at least an intuitive understanding of the concepts of costs and returns (fixed costs, variable costs, marginal costs, marginal returns), the principles of partial budgeting, net worth statements, budgets, and the time value of money. At best, you need to be able to evaluate the economic consequences of different alternatives and at minimum such evaluations by others.

For people with no undergrad courses in economics, an excellent, enjoyable, math-free book to acquaint you with some of the fundamentals of the economic thinking is:

Wheelan, Charles (2003). Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science. WW Norton, 388 pg pprbk ISBN 0-393-32486-9 Amazon

A wide selection of on-line textbooks are also available for choosing among.

A general book covering the applied economics of farm management is:

Boehlje MD, VR Eidman (1984). Farm Management. John Wiley & Sons. 805 pages. ISBN 0-471-04688-4

This book provides the most complete coverage of farm management and decision making from the "bottom line". Other books, such as Osburn and Schneeberger's Modern Agricultural Management and Castle, Becker and Nelson's Farm Business Management are out of print but may be available from used bookstores.

John Deere Publishing - Farm Business Management Series

  • Farm and Ranch Business Management 3rd ed. Rev. (2004, $45.95, FBM10105NC )
    • "An introduction to sound management practices"
  • Machinery Management (1999, $43.95, FBM17105NC)
    • "How to select machinery to fit the needs of today's farm managers."

Economic Benchmarking - "How well am I doing compared to others in my industry?":

  • Analyzing the Efficiency of Your Operation (TA Doehring, 2001, pdf)
  • Analyzing the Profitability of Your Operation (TA Doehring, 2001, pdf)
  • Animal Health Economics: an Introduction (Otte & Chilonda, 2000 pdf)
  • Best Practice Benchmarking in Australian Agriculture: Issues and Challenges, 2000 html
  • Comparative Analysis Revisited (some cautions - IM Cooper, AU, pdf)

General:

Dairy:

Beef Cow-calf:

Other Selected On-Line/Printed Materials:

  • Agriculture & Business Management Index - Colorado State University (includes information on how to prepare partial budgests, enterprise budgets and standardized performance analysis)

  • Agricultural Economics for Veterinarians: Partial Budgets for Beef Cow Herds, 1999 (RL Larson, VL Pierce, Compendium on CE for the Practicing Veterinarian, 21(9 suppl):S210-S219)

  • Costs and Benefits of Preventing Animal Diseases: A review focusing on endemic diseases, 2005 (html, pdf)

  • Partial Budgeting

  • Therapeutic Decision Making in Pig Practice: Economics Made Easy, 1996 (pdf)
     

(The following portion of this section has not been updated yet - updated sections follow below)
Colorado State Cooperative Extension Farm Management Publications
http://www.ColoState.EDU/Depts/CoopExt/PUBS/FARMMGT/pubfarm.html

Crop and Livestock Budgets (1996 - Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada)
http://ext.usu.edu/agecon/budglst.html

Farm Costs and Returns Home Page - USDA Economic Research Service (printed tables and data in spreadsheet format)
http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/farmincome/

Farm Financial Standards Council
http://www.ffsc.org/

Farm Financial Standards Council Financial Guidelines for Agricultural Producers
http://www.ffsc.org/guidelin.htm

Farm Management Guides (2000), Kansas State University
http://www.oznet.ksu.edu./library/agec2/F-MGT-GD.HTM

John Lawrence’s Home Page (Iowa State University Livestock Economist)
http://www.econ.iastate.edu/faculty/lawrence/

Cornell University Library Gateway - Agriculture
http://campusgw.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/subj.cgi?subject=Agriculture

Agricultural Economics
http://campusgw.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/subj.cgi?subject=Agriculture--Agricultural Economics

Farm Financial Conditions (primarily USDA statistics and reports)
http://campusgw.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/subj.cgi?subject=Agriculture--Agricultural Economics--Farm Financial Conditions

WWW Virtual Library: Agricultural Economics
http://www.agecon.com/aecovl/

Beef Cow-calf:

Arizona Ranchers’ Management Guide
http://ag.arizona.edu/arec/pubs/rmg/ranchers.html

Backing Calving Dates Up (Reducing Postpartum Interval of Beef Cows)
http://www.ag.unr.edu/AB/Extension/Cattleman/Cattleman98/Images/05.pdf

Beef Publications (MSU):

Emerging Trends in the Beef Cattle Industry (H Ritchie)
http://www.imok.ufl.edu/animal_sci/FCIATS/1999/Proceedings/EmergingTrends.pdf

Grazing: Forage and Animal Management (Agronomy 534 class project)
http://www.agron.iastate.edu/moore/434/title534.html

Increasing Value in the Supply Chain (G Smith, CSU, 2001)
http://ansci.colostate.edu/ran/beef/smith5.pdf

Managing for Today's Cattle Market and Beyond (36 papers on analyzing a ranch, reducing its costs, marketing options for its products, and the future of the industry)
http://ag.arizona.edu/AREC/WEMC/TodaysCattlePub.html

The Beef Industry . . . Where is It? Where Is It Going? (GC Smith, CSU)
http://ansci.colostate.edu/ran/meat/beefindustry.htm

The Economics of Culling Cows (beef - H Hughes, NDSU)
http://www.moormans.com/beef/BeefFF/Aug2k1Beef/cullingcows.htm

The Livestock Market Advisor for Prairie Beef Producers (Harlan Hughes, retired North Dakota State U. - Advice and Information on the Economics of Raising and Marketing Beef Cattle)
http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/cow/

1999 Beef Journal (PL Charteris, CSU)
http://chuck.agsci.colostate.edu/~pcharter/journ/index.html

Dairy:

Center for Dairy Profitability, University of Wisconsin (documents, downloadable spreadsheets)
http://www.wisc.edu/dairy-profit/

Western Canadian Dairy Seminar
http://www.afns.ualberta.ca/wcds/

Positioning Your Dairy Farm Business for a Profitable Future - A US Perspective (Terry R. Smith)
http://www.afns.ualberta.ca/wcds/wcd96/wcd96135.htm

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Applied Nutrition:

The successful practice of production medicine requires a solid understanding of applied nutrition. You must know what production diseases or problems result from inadequate nutrition, how to evaluate rations for those problems, and basic steps to correct and prevent these problems. Expertise beyond that level is beneficial because feed comprises the largest proportion of variable costs of food animal production and the ability to minimize those costs can be financially rewarding for the practitioner. Beyond the skills of traditional individual animal clinical medicine, this is the single most important area. Problems can arise at every stage of the process from growing, harvesting, storing, mixing and feeding a ration.

National Research Council

Davis, CL, JK Drackley (1998). The Development, Nutrition, and Management of the Young Calf. Iowa State University Press, ISBN 0-8138-2980-1, 339 pgs., $75.  Amazon

Perry, TW, MJ Cecava, eds. (1995). Beef Cattle Feeding and Nutrition, 2nd ed. Academic Press, ISBN: 0125520522, $107.

Church, DC (1993). The Ruminant Animal: Digestive Physiology and Nutrition. Waveland Press ISBN 0881337404, 564 pgs., $56

This book is the current version of a classic series on ruminant nutrition.

Kellems, RO, DC Church (2001). Livestock Feeds & Feeding, 5th ed. Prentice Hall, ISBN 0130105821, 654 pgs. $88

The applied part of the above series.

Selected On-Line Materials:

They are what they EAT: Impact of cow-calf nutrition on reproduction, calf development, and disease resistance (excellent perspective on reproductive economics - K Odde)
http://www.waterlooanimalhospital.com/Library/Cattle/repronutr.html

Penn State Dairy Cattle Nutrition    (Including the PSU Forage Particle Separator)

Western Canadian Dairy Seminar - Proceedings

This annual seminar has great applied papers from topic experts. Some nutrition examples are:

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Forage Production:

Forages, either harvested or grazed and either purchased or raised, are fundamental to ruminant agricultural animal production. Livestock farms are essentially conversion systems, converting plant fiber and concentrate to an animal product. You need to understand the basics of how forages are managed from growing to harvesting to storing to mixing to delivering and the consequences of mis-management of this process.

  • Barnes, RF, CJ Nelson, M Collins, KJ Moore (2007) Forages, Vol I: An Introduction to Grassland Agriculture, 6th ed.(2007)  Amazon
  • Barnes, RF, CJ Nelson, KJ Moore, M Collins (2007) Forages, Vol II: The Science of Grassland Agriculture, 6th ed.(2007)  Amazon

The textbook bible on planting, raising, and harvesting forages (including corn silage).

John Deere Publishing - Fundamentals of Machine Operation Series

  • Hay and Forage Harvesting (2004, FMO14105NC, $40.95)

"Real world" evaluations of the many different ways to improve hay and forage harvesting and storage efficiency.

Savory, A (1998). Holistic Management: A New Framework for Decision Making, 2nd ed. rev. Island Press, Washington, DC. 550 pages. Amazon

This book covers the Savory rapid rotational grazing system, which is currently popular, and the management of other ranch resources such as capital and labor. This is most applicable to operations involving grazing.

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Animal Production Systems:

You must understand the fundamentals of any animal production system that you work with. If you are not already very familiar with a system, one of the best ways to obtain that understanding is by reading a textbook that is intended for applied upper level animal science classes.

Beef Production:

  • Capstone management text:
    • Field, Thomas G., Robert E. Taylor. (2006). Beef Production and Management Decisions, 5th ed. Prentice-Hall, Amazon

  • Other materials / websites:

Dairy Production:

  • No capstone dairy management texts similar to "Dairy cattle: principles, practices, problems, profits" or "Van Horn, AH, CJ Wilcox (eds.). (1992). Large Dairy Herd Management." are currently in-print. In place of a text, the proceedings of the large dairy herd management conferences and selected extension publications provide a starting point.

Sheep Production:

Dairy Goat Production:

  • National Dairy Goat Handbook - TOC

Herd-based Benchmarking, Monitoring and Scoring:

Beef:

Dairy:

Housing, Facilities and Environment:

For intensively managed animals, animal housing facilities and their operation (construction, waste handling, sanitation, and ventilation) have tremendous impacts upon animal health, welfare, and productivity. Successful production medicine practice requires efficient animal handling facilities that are safe for both animals and handlers. Environmental management, particularly waste management, is becoming crucial in animal agriculture. You need to become familiar with the factors involved with animal comfort, know how to score animal comfort, how to identify uncomfortable animals and how to identify what is causing the discomfort. For animals housed in buildings, you must understand natural and artificial ventilation to meet animal requirements.

Midwest Plan Service, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011. (800) 562-3618

Selected Handbooks - Livestock:

  • Beef - MWPS-6 Beef Housing and Equipment Handbook  ($15.00)
  • Dairy - MWPS-7 Dairy Freestall Housing and Equipment Handbook ($20.00)
  • Sheep - MWPS-3 Sheep Housing and Equipment Handbook  ($10.00)
  • Swine
    • MWPS-8 Swine Housing and Equipment Handbook  ($8.00)
    • MWPS-40 Swine Farrowing Handbook  ($7.00)
  • Construction - MWPS-1 Structures and Environment Handbook  ($40.00)
  • Ventilation
    • MWPS-34 Heating, Cooling and Tempering Air for Livestock Housing  ($8.00)
    • MWPS-32 Mechanical Ventilating Systems for Livestock Housing  ($8.00)
    • MWPS-33 Natural Ventilating Systems for Livestock Housing ($5.00)
  • Waste management - MWPS-18 Livestock Waste Facilities Handbook  ($20.00)

These provide the housing requirements of different farm animals and facility plans for all sizes of enterprises including barns, corrals, sheds, squeeze chutes, feeders and other equipment that can be built with items from local hardware and lumber stores.

Curtis, SE (1983). Environmental management in animal agriculture, Books on Demand, ISBN 0783721730 $119.20, 418 p. (formerly an Iowa State University Press book)

Selected on-line materials / websites: 

National Dairy Animal Well-Being Western Dairy Management Conference
  • Effect of Flooring and/or Flooring Surfaces on Lameness Disorders in Dairy Cattle (2007, pdf)
  • Makin’ Me Dizzy – Pen Moves and Facility Designs to Maximize Transition Cow Health and Productivity (2007, pdf)
  • Cow Comfort Issues in Freestall Barns (2005, pdf)
  • Evaluating and Selecting Cooling Systems for Different Climates (2005, pdf)
  • Managing the Heat-Stressed Cow to Improve Reproduction (2005, pdf)
  • Heat Stress Abatement in Four-Row Freestall Barns (2001, pdf)
  • Heat Stress Management in Freestall Barns in the Western U.S. (1999, pdf)
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Applied Genetics:

Lasley, JF (1987). Genetics of Livestock Improvement, 4th ed. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0133512061, 477 pages (out of print).

Because genetic improvement and reproduction are the reason behind much of what agricultural animal veterinarians do, this book contains important information. You should read the chapters on the variations of the economic traits, principles of breeding, and the systems of breeding and selection for the species you are interested in.

Selected On-Line Materials:
  • Beef
    • BIF - Beef Improvement Federation
      • Guidelines for Uniform Beef Improvement Programs (8th ed 2002  pdf)
      • Proceedings
    • U Florida
      • Expected Progeny Differences (EPDs) in Beef Cattle (AN 1642006, html pdf)
  • Dairy
    • Genetics of Longevity and Productive Life (K Weigel, 2004 WCDS pdf)
    • Dairy Cattle Breeding: Are We Heading in the Right Direction? (EB Burnside, 1997 WCDS html)
       

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Leadership, Motivation, and Organization:

You will be a far more successful production medicine practitioner if you understand leadership principles because good leadership is required to successfully motivate clients to change. If you cannot motivate a good portion of your clients to change their behavior when change is needed, you are likely to fail at production medicine. Veterinarians are becoming more involved in the selection, training and monitoring of employees. Such involvement has been common in large feedlot consulting practice and is developing in large dairy practice.

The business section of almost any general bookstore will have the currently popular books on leadership, communication and motivation.

  • Covey, SR (1990). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change - Franklin Covey Leadership Center
  • Patterson, K, J Grenny, D Maxfield, R McMillan, A Switzler (2007). Influencer: The Power to Change Anything - VitalSmarts - Amazon
  • Patterson, K, J Grenny, R McMillan, A Switzler, SR Covey (2002). Crucial Conversations: Tools for talking when the stakes are high - Amazon
The Executive Program for Agricultural Producers Wittman Consulting Services (R.L. "Dick" Wittman, Culdesac, ID)

Quality Control On-Line Materials:

Center for Quality Management Research (RMIT Univ, AU)
http://www.cmqr.rmit.edu.au/

From F. Winslow Taylor to W. Edwards Deming - Over a Century of Progress (JF Dalrymple, RMIT Univ, AU)
http://www.cmqr.rmit.edu.au/publications/jdtaylordeming.pdf

From Quality Management to Organizational Excellence: "Don't Throw the Baby Out with the Bath Water" (KJ Foley,  RMIT Univ, AU)
http://www.cmqr.rmit.edu.au/publications/kfbabyba.pdf

HACCP as an Innovation Tool: Case Studies in Horticulture (Bryar, RMIT Univ, AU)
http://www.cmqr.rmit.edu.au/publications/pbinnova.pdf

Deming - TQM (Total Quality Management)

Deming Electronic Network WebSite Site Map
http://deming.eng.clemson.edu/pub/den/deming_map.htm

Deming's 14 Points for Management
http://chuck.agsci.colostate.edu/~pcharter/journ/deming.html

Deming's Principles of Total Quality Management    http://www.well.com/user/vamead/demingdist.html

W. Edwards Deming - MIT
http://www-caes.mit.edu/deming/

 

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Professional Memberships (Bovine):

Professional society memberships are essential to keeping up in production medicine. Most of the professional associations offer reduced rates to students but include the newsletters and meeting proceedings. The meeting proceedings are particularly important because they contain a lot of current information from the leaders and shakers in the field. Joining while a student help you build your library to tap when you enter practice.

Note in particular the two animal science societies and their publications. These two publications are where a lot of nutritionists are obtaining their fundamental information on bovine nutrition.

The current addresses for contacting the following organizations can be found under "Allied Veterinary Organizations" in the "Other Associates" section of the yellow pages in the AVMA directory.

American Association of Bovine Practitioners.

This group has the best annual meeting for people in bovine practice. It is a very good place to meet other people doing what you are doing and to exchange ideas. They have a home page and also sponsor a active list server, AABP-L, for their members. Practitioners can post a question about a herd problem and get input from fellow practitioners and researchers who have dealt with similar problems. The association has a very good pre-meeting seminar program to learn more skills in specialized areas such as nutrition and mastitis. Outside of the certification programs, enrolling in these seminars is a major way that practitioners get up to speed in production medicine and stay there.

Because this is a constituent organization of the AVMA, AVMA membership is required to be a member of this group.

Academy of Veterinary Consultants.

This groups is more for cow-calf and feedlot practitioners.

Society for Theriogenology

The focus of this group is on reproduction of all of the veterinary species.

National Mastitis Council

The focus of this group is on the control of mastitis in dairy cows and other milk producing animals.

American Dairy Science Association

This group publishes the Journal of Dairy Science, which is one of the best sources of scientific information on nutrition of the dairy cow.

American Society of Animal Science

This group published the Journal of Animal Science, which is one of the best sources of scientific information of the nutrition of ruminants.

Other Resources:

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Recommended Subscriptions:

The following are professional subscriptions (not an all-inclusive list) that I recommend for keeping up on bovine production medicine.

  • Bovine Practitioner (AABP - with membership)
  • Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the AABP (with AABP membership)
  • JAVMA
  • Veterinary Clinics of North America: Food Animal Practice

With on-line databases such as Medline Pubmed, you can keep abreast of much of the refereed veterinary literature by regularly performing keyword searches.  Using Cornell Consultant, you can obtain a current list of clinically relevant journal articles of specific diseases in which you are interested.

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Trade Journals & Websites:

Trade journals and websites are what your clients are seeing. They often contain regular columns written by high-profile veterinarians, articles on animal health, and much advertising for veterinary products. Your clients expect you to have knowledge in the area that is covered by those columns or articles and may ask you about them, particularly if they perceive that the recommendation of the expert in the magazine is different from yours. You should be aware that often articles about the successful use of a product are often written by the company marketing the product and supplied to the magazine, which then puts a staffer's byline on it.

These journals and websites also address the current problems facing the industry so reading them is a good way to keep up on what is impacting your clients in other areas of their business or is likely to impact them in the future. If you are not familiar with an industry, reading their trade journals is a good way to become familiar with it.

The following is a list of some of these magazines and websites by species.

General:

Beef: Dairy:

Sheep:

Swine:

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Other Internet Resources:

Continuing electronic communication advances will continue changing how veterinarians access and exchange information. Instead of being isolated from your fellow practitioners, you can rapidly share information with others that have similar practice interests. The following are recent examples of developing social networking software:

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