One way to pave the way for a bright future is to build strong relationships with people and businesses that can add value to your operation — including a strong relationship with your veterinarian. If you are working with a young veterinarian, the goal should be to develop a relationship where you both want the other to have both business and personal success. 

Start by brainstorming about what you want from your veterinarian. This may include services you already receive and new services to enhance your operation. You may want your veterinarian to help you improve the percentage of cows in your herd that get pregnant in the first 21 days of breeding, or you may want your veterinarian to help ensure few calves become sick between birth and weaning. Whatever outcome you want to improve, ask him or her to develop the skills you desire or to help you identify who can supply those skills.

New ideas and a new generation

Your veterinarian may also approach you about new ways of tackling old problems. Although cattle health and productivity will always be grounded in established husbandry practices based on forage management, nutrition, sanitation and disease control, I think it is safe to assume the future will reveal continued changes in production efficiency and consumer expectations that requires integrating previously successful production practices with new methods. 

For example, veterinarians who capitalize on easily accessible and continually increasing computing capacity are already learning to harness information to improve decision-making. The new generation of veterinarians can help producers pave the way to the future by identifying new tools and technologies to improve reproductive efficiency, enhance disease diagnosis and implement genetic selection for disease resilience. 

Although I think of artificial insemination when I hear the term ‘AI,’ for many people today, AI means artificial intelligence. Veterinary medicine is starting to utilize artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance the diagnostic ability and accuracy of analyzing images such as x-rays, ultrasound scans and digital pictures. 

Although I don’t foresee artificial intelligence replacing veterinarians in the future, I do think the veterinarians you work with will be increasingly integrating these tools into their daily practice. 

Artificial intelligence and tools that take advantage of increasing computing power have the potential to use information in production records; samples taken from animals and their environment; and observations made by caregivers to make earlier, more accurate diagnoses and guide more effective interventions. 

The new generation of veterinarians are likely to lead the implementation of innovative technologies that can improve cattle health and productivity. Working closely with your veterinarian to identify both time-tested and new services that bring value to your operation will help pave the way for successful ranches and veterinary practices well into the future.  

Editor’s note: Robert L. Larson is a professor of production medicine and executive director of Veterinary Medicine Continuing Education at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan.