The old playbook is no longer working, Cara Haden, DVM with Pipestone, said during the Alex Hogg Memorial Lecture at the 2025 American Association of Swine Veterinarians annual meeting.
“If we want this industry to thrive moving forward, we have to become relevant to younger generations,” Haden says.
The holds true for veterinarians who serve as champions for the pigs that pork producers raise and for consumers who will influence what it means to be a champion for the pig in the future, she says.
What Does the Swine Veterinarian of Tomorrow Need?
“If we do nothing to address the needs of Millennials and Gen Zs, then we are going to have a hard time recruiting and maintaining veterinarians,” Haden says.
The future champions of pigs will be more diverse, more female, and will be represented by the Millennial and Gen Z generations.
“The mostly white, male, Baby Boomer, and Generation X veterinarians grew and shaped our industry over their careers,” Haden says. “They walked with their pig farmer clients as they made huge leaps to raise pigs inside. They were the ones who first recognized and diagnosed porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome. They helped their clients adapt to multi-site production. They developed the practice of swine population medicine, including disease eradication from large populations.”
These veterinarians eradicated pseudorabies, and helped control diseases such as rhinitis, mange, lice and Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae. They built the foundations of swine biosecurity including shower-in and shower-out, as well as air filtration.
“They are the builders of modern swine medicine and should be incredibly proud of what they built,” she says. “I am on this stage today as a part of this industry because people like Gordon Spronk, Tim Loula, Paul Armbrecht, Joe Connor, Max Rodibaugh, Tom Wetzell, Paul Yeske and many others built something compelling and meaningful.”
Read the rest of the story at Farm Journal’s Pork.
[Source: Farm Journal’s Pork 11 March 2025 by Jennifer Shike]