New Hereford veterinary clinic and TTUSVM education center set to open early next year

HEREFORD, Texas (KFDA) - The 18,000-square-foot facility will also serve as an educational center for Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine students.

Fourth year students will receive hands-on learning experience specifically working with beef cattle.

“The unique one for Hereford is the interaction they have with the number of feed yards to provide us animal resources for students to work on. It is what’s going to actually drive the functionality of the program,” said Dr. Britt Conklin, associate dean of clinical programs at Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine.

Students will spend four weeks at a time working on surgeries, medical cases and diagnostic skills.

“Even folks like Caviness have opportunities for us with lots of cows around all the time, so they can get practice with pregnancy diagnosis and things like that. So we just have a wealth of folks in this community that are helping with the whole process,” said Dr. Kynan Sturgess, co-owner of Hereford Veterinary Clinic.

Students in the program will help with workload and provide more resources for the clinic.

“These students are going to be the ones doing most of the work,” said Dr. Sturgess.

With supervision and experience to be gained, Tech’s mission is to bring graduates to rural and regional areas to work.

“There is a big need for veterinarians that can work on all species and veterinarians that are willing to go into rural areas,” said Dr. Sturgess.

63 students will begin their rotation in May primarily focusing on food animal medicine and surgery. Through this partnership students will experience everyday-life as a veterinarian.

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