Large Animal Services

Large Animal Services

Whether you have a large production facility, a small family farm, pleasure horses, or just a few animals for 4-H projects our large animal departments are well suited to provide for your individual needs. 

Swine

The AAH swine health consultants, Dr. Potter, Dr. Martin, and Dr. Tokach, are constantly striving to help our clients prioritize and implement changes that will improve the health and well-being of their pigs.

AAH swine team

We provide a variety of services including:

Health

  • Disease diagnostic programs
  • Disease prevention strategies
  • Biosecurity plans and procedures
  • Pathogen elimination procedures
  • Reproductive evaluation and optimization

Production

  • Biologic production analysis
  • Environmental problem solving
  • Employee training

Financial

  • Expansion planning
  • Cash flow projections
  • Pig flow and facility utilization
  • Abilene VetMeds, a membership program for medicines and supplies

Data Management

  • Production data management
  • Production data analysis
  • Research trial design, management and analysis
AAH lisa holding pigs

Bovine

Drs. Rankin, Hickert, and Hemman can see your cattle at the clinic or on-farm. They can assist by working your cows and calves for you when it's time to preg-check or vaccinate, or simply be available to you for assistance when you need it.

AAH large animal team

The AAH veterinarians provide many services for bovine producers including:


  • Primary diagnosis and care for ill individuals
  • Vaccinations, implants, and castrations
  • Internal and external parasite control planning
  • Obstetrical services and fertility diagnostics
  • Reproductive examinations and ultrasonography
  • Artificial insemination
  • Bull semen evaluation
  • Preventative health planning
  • Lameness examination
  • Hoof trimming
  • Diagnostic and surgical services
  • Production records analysis


We also offer Abilene Vet Meds (a membership program for medicine, vaccines, and supplies) for our cattle clients.

calf

Equine

Drs. Hickert, Rankin, and Hemman provide the expertise to serve you and your horses.

horses behind a fence

We provide a full range of services including:


  • Reproductive management including breeding soundness examinations for mares and stallions, reproductive ultrasound imaging for ovulation prediction and pregnancy detection, uterine culture and biopsy
  • Artificial insemination of fresh, chilled, or frozen semen
  • Stallion collection
  • Shipping fresh and chilled semen
  • Diagnostic laboratory services including foal IgG SNAP, complete blood panels, Coggins, stall side serum amyloid a (SAA)
  • Lameness evaluation and radiology services
  • Pre-purchase examination
  • Sheath cleaning
  • Routine surgical procedures e.g. cryptorchid, hernia repair, laceration repair
  • Pneumatic dentistry
  • Preventative health services including wellness week which offers owners significant discounts on all equine vaccine, dewormer, and preventative health care services

  • Are you considering breeding your mare?

    There is a lot to consider before breeding your mare. Please call our office and ask to speak with a large animal veterinarian or technician for pricing and advice. Before breeding, you would need to decide on a stallion to use and find out how the semen will be sent (either fresh chilled or frozen). We will then decide on a time for you to start bringing in your mare for reproductive ultrasounds (most mares in Kansas generally start cycling in April). A trained veterinarian will use a transrectal ultrasound to view the mares cervix, uterus, and ovaries, and determine where she is in her cycle. We have injectable hormones available that we can use to manipulate her cycle, so that she is ready for breeding. Often, it can take 3-5 ultrasounds before the mare is ready to breed. 


    When the timing is right, we insert the semen directly into the uterus through the cervix. We do recommend an ovulation check or ultrasound the day after insemination to make sure the mare has ovulated. We also recommend a 14 day and 35 day post-breeding ultrasound to confirm there are no twins at 14 days and to confirm a heartbeat at 35 days.


    We also have the capability of collecting stallions and shipping off semen. Stallions must be trained to collect or taken somewhere for training BEFORE we will collect them. 

Are you considering breeding your mare?

There is a lot to consider before breeding your mare. Please call our office and ask to speak with a large animal veterinarian or technician for pricing and advice. Before breeding, you would need to decide on a stallion to use and find out how the semen will be sent (either fresh chilled or frozen). We will then decide on a time for you to start bringing in your mare for reproductive ultrasounds (most mares in Kansas generally start cycling in April). A trained veterinarian will use a transrectal ultrasound to view the mare's cervix, uterus, and ovaries, and determine where she is in her cycle. We have injectable hormones available that we can use to manipulate her cycle, so that she is ready for breeding. Often, it can take 3-5 ultrasounds before the mare is ready to breed. 

When the timing is right, we insert the semen directly into the uterus through the cervix. We do recommend an ovulation check or ultrasound the day after insemination to make sure the mare has ovulated. We also recommend a 14 day and 35 day post-breeding ultrasound to confirm there are no twins at 14 days and to confirm a heartbeat at 35 days.

We also have the capability of collecting stallions and shipping off semen. Stallions must be trained to collect or taken somewhere for training BEFORE we will collect them. 

Ovine, Caprine, Camelids

This is an area of our practice that keeps growing!

sheep behind a goat

We can assist with the following for our small ruminant clients:


  • Pregnancy evaluation with ultrasonography
  • Parasite identification and deworming strategies
  • Dystocia
  • Diagnostics and care for ill patients
  • Injury work-up, casting, splinting, and orthopedic surgery
  • Banding, castrating, and vaccinations
  • Dehorning/Disbudding
  • Hoof trimming
  • Disease diagnostics and preventative strategies
  • Vaccinations
Dr. Hickert holding kids
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