Non Technical Summary
Cedar Creek Veterinary Service is the sole large animal-exclusive practice in MO246. Within the last two years, 23 percent of area mixed-animal veterinarians have retired or left practice. A further 20 percent reduction will occur within the next two years due to retirement. On a recent graduate budget, we began to modernize the standard of care in MO246 in recent years; however, our pre-owned equipment is beginning to show its age and is in need of upgrading to meet the current and impending shortage demands. Our practice mission is to promote, preserve, and protect the viability of animal agriculture and the rural lifestyle through modern veterinary medicine. To meet this goal, there are three distinct, yet intertwined objectives: reduce animal morbidity and mortality, improve producer profitability, and bolster agriculture and our rural communities. The project outlines replacement of a practice truck, portable hydraulic chute, upgraded, more versatile ultrasound machine, and expanded diagnostic capabilities using gastroscopy. The requested equipment amplifies efforts to increase our efficiency, safety, and availability to the area. Accordingly, we can more effectively improve health and welfare ofanimals, directly contributing to a safe, abundant, and wholesome food supply while increasing producer profitability.

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
807	3399	1160	50%
311	3399	1160	50%

Knowledge Area
807 - Disaster Preparedness, Mitigation, Response, and Recovery; 311 - Animal Diseases;

Subject Of Investigation
3399 - Beef cattle, general/other;

Field Of Science
1160 - Pathology;

Goals / Objectives
Major Project Goals and Objectives1. Reduce animal morbidity and mortality. By updating our most frequently used equipment, we can more efficiently and accurately diagnose cases. This allows prompt treatment in critical cases that affect animal morbidity and mortality. As cases are able to be completed more efficiently, this allows us to move on to the next call more quickly. Practice efficiency is especially important when urgent cases arise and should be seen immediately.2. Improve producer profitability. With updated equipment, we can reduce downtime for repairs, allowing for immediate attention to critical cases. In a world where both input costs and the cattle market are at record highs, prompt attention to producers' needs is more important than ever with regard to profitability. This results in the long-term viability of operations, allowing producers to support their families, thereby increasing the likelihood the farm will be passed down to their children to operate.3. Bolster agriculture and our rural communities. When operations are more profitable, they are attractive prospects for the next generation. As a result, rural communities and the rural lifestyle remain viable. This is critical for an ample and wholesome food supply. By demonstrating modern diagnostics and treatment to youth, we can further support the advancement of agriculture through the next generationAnnual Objectives: Year 1. The first year of RPE funding will begin with equipment procurement. We will notify the community through our popular Facebook page that new equipment has arrived. Short informational articles will be included to explain what the equipment is, how we use it, and how this affects producers. A clinic website will be commissioned to host resources. We will begin to transition this equipment into daily use.Annual Objectives: Year 2. In the second year, we expect to have improved efficiency by five hours per week. With this time, we can more easily accommodate emergent cases daily and add two to four more scheduled appointments per week. With the retirement of at least one local food animal veterinarian by Year 2, creating the capacity to see more calls is paramount.Annual Objectives: Year 3. The third year will see the culmination of previous years' efforts to adhere to the objectives from our mission statement. We will continue to improve animal health and welfare through prompt treatment, thereby improving producer profitability and the status of rural communities. Additional clients will be gained as the demand for our services increases not only through retirement, but through word of mouth regarding our capabilities to meet the above objectives.Long-term results: Just as our practice mission statement explains, the heart of our business is the promotion, preservation, and protection of agriculture and the communities in which we practice. When we help producers through extension and education efforts to improve animal welfare and influence producer profitability, the future of our industry and the rural lifestyle is safeguarded for generations to come

Project Methods
Following the receipt of grant funds, equipment will be immediately commissioned. We will notify the community through our popular Facebook page that the new equipment has arrived with spotlight videos and posts on each item. We will begin to transition this equipment into daily use. We anticipate to see immediate results of the upgraded equipment. With improved efficiency, we can meet our first two project objectives to (1) reduce animal morbidity and mortality, thereby (2) improving producer profitability. Clients and students will be quickly introduced to the improved quality of diagnostic tools on farm calls. In addition, a client education day (cost incurred by a pharmaceutical supplier) will be held to demonstrate the versatility of the ultrasound machine and gastroscope. Images and videos from these diagnostic tools can be shared on social media (with client permission) to more broadly share our capacity. Ultimately, our efforts in extension to improve animal welfare and influence producer profitability leads to our third objective of bolstering agriculture and our rural communities.Just as practice software was used to identify equipment which would result in the greatest return on investment, we can accurately track the use of the new equipment through the same system. Additional line items can be added to the software to track mileage, farm calls, number of head run through the chute, and number of patients ultrasound scanned and scoped.