FARM ANIMAL CARE

FARM ANIMAL CARE

â–¬ Veterinary Wellness Partners â–¬

Farm Animal Care

Your Animals are Important and Deserve Specialized Care!

Importance of Veterinary Care


Routine health care refers to the non-emergency, general care that is needed to keep your animal healthy throughout its life. This includes routine veterinary care for vaccinations, parasite control, dental care, proper nutrition, grooming, and protection from common hazards.



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After Hours Emergency Care

FARM ANIMAL EMERGENCIES (HORSES, COWS, SHEEP, ETC.)


Our large animal veterinarians are available for consultations and emergency services that may arise after normal business hours for our existing clients. If you have a potential large animal emergency after normal business hours, please call 330.682.2971 and follow the prompts.

Breeding Services

Reproduction is a major aspect of the horse industry. Whether it's breeding to produce a foal from a favorite mare or breeding for show or sale, our veterinarians will determine the best breeding program for your horse. Our veterinarians are experts, who are able to evaluate your horse via rectal palpation and ancillary services, such as diagnostic ultrasound. Our veterinarians can utilize reproductive hormones to manipulate the mare's cycle, making timed artificial insemination more likely to be successful.


Each mare's breeding cycle is unique. There is a large variation in the health of the reproductive tract. Previous problems can lead to more problems if not acted upon early in the course of the disease. We can provide breeding soundness examinations to determine the overall reproductive health and ability of your mare to conceive and carry a foal to term. Please click on some of the services to find out more about ultrasonography, uterine cultures and uterine biopsy.

Complete Surgical Services

We offer surgery on the farm and at our clinic. Holding pens and stocks provide us with the ability to allow for you to drop off your animal for its surgical procedure with biosecurity in mind. We feature a bovine surgery room and a separate equine surgical suite. We perform bovine surgeries which include displaced abomasum correction (twisted stomachs), abdominal exploratory, cesarean section, hernia repair, and several others. Our equine surgery suite is equipped to perform colic surgery, hernia repair, cryptorchid surgery (retained testicle), and many other types of surgery. 

Deer Medicine and Services

Dr. Gabe Middleton has a special interest in the white-tailed deer industry. He has recently become certified in chronic wasting disease surveillance.

Dental Services Featuring Power Float

The veterinarians of Veterinary Wellness Partners recognize the importance of excellent dental health in their patients. Dental problems in horses can lead to other health problems. Like many health issues, early detection is the key to prevention and resolution of problems. Dental problems often arise subtly requiring a complete oral examination with mild sedation. Once your horse is sedated, our veterinarians can perform an oral cavity examination looking for abnormalities, which can be corrected using the Power Float. The Power Float allows us to correct more dental problems than the "hand" floats that many horse owners were accustomed to in the past. This is truly the new standard in dental care for horses.

Equine Surgical Services

Our veterinarians perform several routine surgeries on the farm. These include laceration repairs, removal of minor growths, and castrations (often referred to a gelding). In addition, we have a dedicated surgical suite located within our hospital. This allows us to perform more extensive surgeries. We are able to intubate horses, maintaining the proper level of anesthesia using anesthetic gas. This allows us to repair major lacerations, remove larger tumors, perform castrations on horses with retained testicles, and repair hernias. It also allows us to perform surgeries in a protected environment when an extensive surgery is required, but the weather is not permitting.

Equine Wellness Program

Our equine wellness program is designed to be a comprehensive wellness and prevention program for your horse. We incorporate all of the recommended vaccinations and internal parasite control into the program to help simplify the care of your horse. There are many conflicting opinions and views of what is considered proper prevention and care for horses in various regions of the United States. Our veterinarians evaluate the latest scientific data and trends within our area to design and implement the best overall care for your horse. 


The basics of the program include two farm visits, one in the Spring and one in the Fall. This allows our veterinarians to examine and evaluate your horse on two occasions throughout the year. During each visit, we perform a physical examination and administer the appropriate vaccinations for our region and time of year. We also drop off targeted deworming products to be administered throughout the year. At each visit, we will collect a fecal sample and perform a fecal egg count to monitor each horse for abnormal parasite burdens. This allows us to further cater the deworming regimen to target the "high shedders" within a herd. 


During the Fall visit, our veterinarians thoroughly examine the oral cavity of your horse. This allows us to identify and correct any dental problems prior to the winter season, when supplemental feeding tends to increase due to a lack of grass in the pastures. If corrections are needed, your horse will be given a sedative and his/ her teeth will be corrected using the Power Float (This will be at an additional cost, but the rate is reduced with membership in the equine wellness program). We also perform a sheath cleaning or udder cleaning at this visit. 

Fetal Sexing

Utilizing the latest ultrasound technology, several of our veterinarians have become proficient at fetal sexing. Fetal sexing in cattle can be accomplished between 60 and 80 days of gestation. This aids the farmer in management decisions, as they can elect to keep cattle that are confirmed pregnant with heifer calves (diary) or Bull calves (beef). Fetal sexing in cattle may also help to increase the value of an animal for sale as buyers often are buying cattle based upon genetics. By purchasing a top cow bred with a bull calf, a breeder may choose to purchase the bred cow to develop a replacement bull. Other breeders may wish to purchase a cow that is confirmed pregnant with a heifer, as that heifer will be used as a replacement within the herd. 

Herd Management Consultations

We provide consultation in a multitude of areas. These areas include nutrition, records evaluation, reproduction, calf management, neonatal care, and milking machine analysis. We continually attend continuing education seminars to stay at the forefront of the industries that we are involved with. 

Large Animal Ultrasonography

We can perform ultrasound examinations on horses, cows, and some small ruminants. Generally, ultrasonography is utilized for reproductive conditions, either to evaluate for early pregnancy or to diagnose conditions that may make pregnancy more difficult to achieve. We can scan cows as early as 28 days after they are bred. This allows open cows to be "short cycled" for an earlier return to heat and hopefully a shortening of days open. Ultimately this results in increased profits for the farmer, as cows produce both more milk and more calves over a lifetime. 


This Easi-scan ultrasound is designed specifically for portable use on large animals. It is battery operated, eliminating the need for a cord. Other features include early pregnancy detection (as low as 28 days in cattle and 14-18 days in horses). This ultrasound unit is also designed for fetal sexing in cattle between 60-80 days after being bred. 

Milk Culturing Lab

Milk culturing is critical to mastitis control and prevention. Knowing the mastitis organism that is causing mastitis is the most important step in preventing the next case. We offer pick-up of milk samples or you may drop the samples at the clinic. Please ask your veterinarian for more details.

Milk Quality Services

We offer complete milk quality services concentrating on both environmental factors and milking procedures/milking machine function. Our services include coming to your farm during milking to evaluate milking machines, prep procedures, cow cleanliness, teat ends, etc. We will tailor the evaluation specifically for your dairy's needs and give a written report with our findings and recommendations.

Neonatal Examinations

One of our veterinarians will evaluate your newborn foal. During this visit, he/she will inspect each foal for birth defects and a general health exam. Every foal is thoroughly examined, focusing on the navel/ umbilical area as this area is a point of entry for abdominal infections shortly after birth. Each foal is given a vitamin injection to correct the natural vitamin E and selenium deficiencies that are present in Ohio soils and in the mother's milk. We also are able to evaluate the mare for adequate milk production and trauma as a result of the birth. We may recommend deworming the mare shortly after foaling to prevent an increased worm burden on pasture, as well as decreasing transmission to the foal. 

Pharmacy

Our onsite pharmacy is maintained so that we have most of the medications that your horse will need. We offer drop off services and also special orders for medications that are not routinely stocked. These items can usually be available within 24 hours.

Radiology

Our mobile x-ray unit gives us the ability to perform radiography in the clinic as well as on farms within the area. Lameness evaluations and pre-purchased exams can be performed using the unit. We can team with your farrier to aide with corrective shoeing. We also have a digital processing unit that allows us to easily refer cases to board certified radiologists to further evaluate your horse. In the fall of 2016, we added a portable processor. This allows us to not only capture the films on the farm, but to develop them for evaluation right on the spot. This helps owners better understand their horse's condition and aides farriers in a more efficient manner than our previous capabilities.

Reproductive Medicine

Our doctors excel at determining the best possible reproductive program for each animal and herd with which we are associated. Timed breeding, artificial insemination, and correction of reproductive problems are all areas of concentration. We can design a breeding program that best fits your herd.

Routine Health Management

Our focus is to provide the best possible diagnostics and care for each and every farm animal. Whether through vaccinations or parasite control, we strive to prevent the onset of clinical signs and diseases. By having communication with farm managers and owners, we are able to identify not only individual problems, but also concerns that may affect an entire herd. 

Ultrasonography Featuring Easi-Scan

The ultrasound unit provides us with a non-invasive way of further evaluating many conditions. The most common use of ultrasound is for breeding services. We can perform a diagnostic scan on horses as early as 13 days after they are bred (pregnancy can be detected as early as 11 days in some instances). Ultrasonography also allows us to "look" inside the uterus to determine inflammation or the presence of abnormal fluid. Some limb conditions, such as bowed tendons, bursitis, tendonitis, or hind-limb lymphangitis can be evaluated as well.


The Easi-Scan Ultrasound is designed specifically for portable use on large animals. It features early pregnancy detection (as low as 13-18 days) in horses. The system is battery operated, which eliminates the need for a nearby outlet or a long cord that is in the way.

Uterine Culturing and Biopsy

Uterine culturing and biopsy are critical to a breeding soundness examination. By directly culturing the specific organism that is causing metritis, we can effectively treat and resolve the infection and prevent scarring within the uterus. Culturing the uterus is also vitally important prior to breeding a mare, whether via natural breeding or through artificial insemination.


Uterine biopsies go one step further in the process of evaluating the breeding potential of a mare. Over time, the uterus may become damaged from previous foaling, infections, or by urine retention. Using a specialized instrument and aseptic technique, we are able to obtain a small sample of the uterine lining. This sample is then sent out to a board certified pathologist for evaluation. This uterine biopsy provides us with the ability to evaluate the amount of scarring that has formed within the uterus. Certain levels of scarring may be corrected if caught early.

Vaccinations

Our veterinarians can assess the risks and needs of your horse and make recommendations on a case by case basis. Some vaccinations are recommended for all horses based upon the area of the country in which they live. Other vaccinations are given only to "at risk" horses. Examples of vaccines include Rabies, Strangles, West Nile, Influenza, Rhinopneumonitis (Types 1 & 4), EEE, WEE, and several others.

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