Veterinarians Trained in Foreign Countries Offered Opportunity for Canadian Veterinary Certification

Jul 29, 2024

A program being offered by the Western College of Veterinarian Medicine and delivered in partnership with western Canadian veterinary practices is allowing veterinarians trained in foreign countries to qualify for veterinary certification in Canada.The SMART swine residency certification program, offered by the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in partnership with swine veterinary practices in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan is providing the training necessary for foreign trained veterinarians to qualify to be licenced as a swine veterinarians in Canada.

Dr. John Harding, a professor of swine medicine with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, says it's a three-year program in which students spend 70 percent of their time on clinical training, working on farm with veterinarians, and 30 percent doing course work and conducting research.

Quote-Dr. John Harding-Western College of Veterinarian Medicine:

Obviously these individuals are foreign trained veterinarians so they have a degree.They're present in Canada so they are either permanent residents or Canadian citizens and have a desire to stay in Canada, they need to have substantial knowledge and experience and interest in the swine industry and they need to have the grades from their undergraduate degree as well as the English language proficiency requirements to be eligible for a University of Saskatchewan graduate program.

When we recruit students we try to recruit a student or a resident who would work in their local community and try to avoid them having to move across the prairie provinces because of the disruption and the economic challenges that that will actually bring.So, they get their clinical training done within that practice environment that is in their local community where as the academic training, primarily the research and the course work that encompasses the research and the clinical training, that's delivered remotely by myself through WCVM and University of Saskatchewan.On completion of this program, the residents will have completed the requirements for a master of science degree as well for certification in swine health management by the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners.

Information on the SMART swine residency certification program can be obtained by emailing john.harding@usask.ca.

Source : Farmscape.ca

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.