PAC Celebrates 10 Years: Looking Back and Looking Forward

In September 2019, Production Animal Consultation cel ebrated ten years as a company. However, the roots of PAC go back even further, starting with Dr. Tom Noffsinger and Dr. Wade Taylor.

In the early 1990s, Dr. Tom and Dr. Wade participated in the inaugural Great Plains Veterinary Education Center Beef Cattle Certification Program. At the time, they were practicing in cow-calf, mixed animal veterinary clinics about 100 miles apart, Dr. Tom in western Nebraska and Dr. Wade in northwest Kansas.

During their time in the GPVEC program, Dr. Tom and Dr. Wade were inspired to take what they were learning from Louis Perino, Gary Rupp, and Dee Griffin and utilize that knowledge to make a difference in the lives of their customers. They met quarterly with Dr. Vincent Traffas and other veterinarians to hone their critical review skills and develop basic data tools and analysis.

Their data collection started with simply recording whether each cow was pregnant or open during fall preg checking. Over time, they began to collect more information in a notebook, including the identification number, days pregnant (or open), body condition score, and age for each cow. They worked with an animal scientist to summarize the collected data, which enabled them to provide their customers with a conception rate, calving distribution, and predicted calving dates based on cow age and body condition score.

Throughout this process, Dr. Tom and Dr. Wade began to realize the power of collaboration. As Dr. Tom still reminds us today, 1 plus 1 can be 11 instead of 2. At the same time, cow herds were growing and their veterinary practice partners took over some of the herd work. In 1997, Dr. Tom and Dr. Wade were presented with the opportunity to begin consulting a few feedlots. They decided to interview for those consulting roles as a team. Their consulting work began with about 25,000 cattle on feed in a few feedlots. Again, they applied their passion for data to feedlot consulting and started collecting data on morbidity and mortality in their feeder clients.

As their consulting practices grew, Dr. Tom and Dr. Wade had less time to devote to mentoring the younger veterinarians in their clinics. Both had benefitted from strong mentors (Dr. Rodney Oliphant for Dr. Wade, and Dr. Don Hudson for Dr. Tom) and felt the call to pass that on to other veterinarians. This led them to start meeting with like-minded, passionate veterinarians to review old concepts, introduce new ideas, and discuss problems and challenges in beef cattle production medicine. They met two or three times a year in Oakley, Kansas, and they brought in industry experts like Dr. John Brethour, Dr. Dan Upson, and Dr. Dan Thomson to share knowledge and lead discussions. Over the years, they invited nutritionists, veterinary students, and more veterinarians to participate in these meetings.

Dr. Tom and Dr. Wade were also building consulting relationships with Dr. Corbin Stevens, Dr. Nels Lindberg, Dr. Kip Lukasiewicz, and Dr. Doug Ford. This group of six veterinarians recognized the value of working together to make each other better and the power of aggregating data to develop insights into health and performance, both to improve their consulting services and their customer’s bottom line. In 2009, they decided to take the next logical step and incorporate as Production Animal Consultation. Over the next several years, the network of PAC veterinarians grew to include Dr. Kev Sullivan, Dr. Jim Lowe, Dr. Shane Terrell, Dr. Dan Thomson, Dr. Tom Edwards, Dr. Matt Fruge, Dr. Randall Spare, and Dr. Jacob Hagenmaier.

Data remains an integral part of PAC. Garrett Taylor partnered with Dr. Tom and Dr. Wade early on to build data collection tools and database storage. The PAC feedlot database now covers more than 30 million cattle over 20 years. Lisa Taylor joined the team in 2014 to help with reporting and analysis of these data.

PAC also conducts research trials to investigate cattle health, performance, and carcass characteristic questions in a controlled setting. Drs. Kip Lukasiewicz, Shane Terrell, Dan Thomson, and Jacob Hagenmaier lead PAC’s research efforts with valuable input and assistance from the rest of the group.

PAC consultants recognize that education and training are essential to helping their clients succeed. To that end, they have partnered with individuals like Ted Howard, an expert in horsemanship and stockmanship, and Jose Valles, who specializes in training caregivers in both English and Spanish, to help caregivers improve the knowledge and skills they use every day.

In addition, PAC began hosting Summit meetings in 2012 to provide educational and networking opportunities for clients and caregivers. This year, PAC held 4 Summit meetings across Kansas and Nebraska with more than 400 total attendees. Kelly Terrell, who joined PAC in 2012, was instrumental in executing these meetings every year. She also spearheaded the newsletter in 2013 and transformed that newsletter into this magazine, Protein Producers , in 2015. The intent of the magazine has always been to educate and inform PAC clients and producers across the animal agriculture industry. Today, Brandi Bain and Darcy Howard help put together a high-quality publication each and every quarter.

Since Dr. Tom and Dr. Wade began consulting in the late 1990s, the industry has seen some big changes. Yet, the challenges presented by the variation in cattle coming into the feedyard persist today. PAC veterinarians yearn to understand what happens in the life of the calf before it comes to the feedlot and how that history affects its health and production as it is finished for slaughter. They quickly realized that they needed help to understand and affect change in production management from conception to harvest.

To that end, PAC began expanding its membership to cow-calf and stocker practitioners across the United States in early 2019. Working together, we will be able to achieve several goals. First, we can answer questions at every level of the beef industry, intervene at best possible time, and improve efficiency throughout the supply chain. Second, we can help local practitioners stay in business and provide the best possible service to clients. Ultimately, this will enable us all to help our clients thrive and make a difference in their communities, states, and the world.

We are excited to announce that as of October 31, 2019, PAC has 35 veterinary members in 14 states and 2 international countries. Our domestic members cover more than 2.6 million cattle on feed, 310,000 cattle on grass, 620,000 breeding cows and heifers, 37,000 milking cows, 7.3 million

Influence of PAC Members

• 2.6 million cattle on feed

• 310,000 cattle on grass

• 620,000 breeding cows and heifers

• 37,000 milking cows

• 7.3 million market pigs

• 307,000 sows

• 8,200 producers and caregivers market pigs, and 307,000 sows. This translates to relationships with more than 8,200 caregivers and producers across the beef, dairy, and swine industries.

While PAC has experienced significant growth over the past 10 years, our core values and our primary objective remain unchanged: to serve our clients with integrity through consulting, data collection and analysis, education and training opportunities, and clinical research. We celebrate the unique passions, skills, and perspectives that each member brings to PAC, and we believe that together, with our clients, we can continue to move the industry forward.

PAC Core Values

• Acting with integrity

• Continuous education and improvement

• Using data to drive decision-making

• Challenging our biases through research

• The importance of horsemanship and stockmanship

• Allowing people to pursue their passion

• The power of collaboration

• A foundation of faith

• Thinking beyond ourselves

• Love for people, animals and each other