WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — On Saturday during Purdue University’s College of Veterinary Medicine Open House, winning 4-H veterinary medicine projects that earned exhibition at last year’s Indiana State Fair were displayed to crowds on campus attending Spring Fest.

 

Spring Fest, an annual fair at Purdue showcasing educational presentations, demonstrations, games and other activities, took place April 7-8. Many of the event’s activities were centered on agriculture and related topics. This year marked the 54th annual Vet Med open house at Lynn Hall.

 

4-Hers from all over the state in grades 7-12 were invited to bring their winning posters to exhibit. Ranging from the digestive system of a cow to cat heart diseases, they covered topics involving the health of livestock, exotic and companion animals of all kinds.

 

For some 4-Hers such as Wyatt Shinn of Randolph County, hands-on vet medicine requires little more than helping his dad with farm chores. Shinn enjoys helping his family with work on their cattle operation because he doesn’t like to “just sit inside during the day; it’s more fun to go outside and help out.”

 

“My poster is about the proper areas to give shots to cows, the two types being subcutaneous and intramuscular,” he explained. “A lot of people like to give shots in the hind end, but that can cause hard spots in the meat and decreases the price by a lot.”

 

Shinn said he learned the best area to give shots to cattle is in the neck, and subcutaneously, which he hadn’t known before starting the project. Others, like Mckenzie Ellegood from Ohio County, researched more unfamiliar topics – in her case, that was animal cloning. “I thought it would be kind of neat to learn about all of this crazy stuff and how it will affect us in the future,” she said.

 

Ellegood decided to take the project because of her love for animals and living on her family’s farm, which houses cows, goats, chickens, dogs and cats. She enjoys 4-H because it allows her to share her passion for animals.

 

“I like the community in 4-H and I like to get out and show my animals at the fair,” she added.

 

While Ellegood and Shinn both come from farming backgrounds, children such as freshman Chesney Loehr of Bartholomew County can use 4-H as an opportunity to explore livestock-related topics despite living in a city.

 

“My poster is about the digestive system of a cow and its four stomachs, and how they all work,” Loehr said. “I’m interested in the oddities of animals and how they’re different from others. I live in the city and don’t get to see cows that often, but I would like to have a cow if I could.”

 

Many of the exhibitors have a strong interest in veterinary medicine and say they plan to pursue it as a career option in the future. One such exhibitor, Kathleen Potter, a junior from Boone County, knows exactly how she wants her passion for vet-med to pan out.

 

“My goal is to one day be an equine vet and work with Thoroughbreds in Kentucky on the tracks,” she said. “I’ve had a passion for horses forever, and 4-H allows me to share that passion with others.”

 

Her poster explained a condition called exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhaging in Thoroughbreds. Especially prevalent in racehorses, this condition causes them to bleed from their lungs and trachea.

 

Another potential future veterinarian, Patrice Serianni of St. Joseph County, based her exhibit on cardiomyopathy in cats. Because she has a heart problem herself, she has always been interested in how the organ works.

 

“I actually shadowed a vet and got to hear some of the sounds of the heart of a cat who had cardiomyopathy,” Serianni explained. “My cat is 19 years old and he is still always there for me; he even knows when I don’t feel well. That’s why I want to go into animal behavior, because I think animals do have feelings and are thinking about stuff.”

 

Like many of the exhibitors at the open house, she appreciates the opportunities 4-H affords her to learn and have fun.

 

“4-H is so amazing, it’s like a community and you get to go to meetings and get a lot of hands-on learning, and then display what you’ve learned – and I think

that’s awesome.”