Dr. Kelly Barratt of Listowel is this year’s recipient of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners Bovine Practitioner of the Year award sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim.
It is the top honour that a member of the AABP can obtain in their career.
Although unable to attend in person, Barratt was recognized during the 54th AABP conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah Oct. 7-9.
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Why it matters: The award honours a veterinarian, active in practice and involved in organized veterinary medicine, who has made significant contributions to bovine medicine.
“I never thought it would be me, that’s for sure. But it truly is the top honour that you can receive as a cow vet in North America. The fact that I received it on my first nomination is just so incredible,” says Barratt.
“It’s an award for cow veterinarians who have made a difference in the lives of their patients, the clients, their producers, and for the industry itself, whether that be the dairy or beef industry; in my case, the dairy industry.”
Barratt worked with Heartland Veterinary Services while attending the Ontario Veterinary College and joined the business full-time in 2005 after graduation. She became a partner in 2010.
She did not grow up on a farm and received her first cattle experience while riding around with Dr. Carolyn Beisel of Miller Vet Services in Chatsworth.
After that she worked on a dairy farm and says that is where she truly got an appreciation for the industry.
“(I saw) how passionate the people that are a part of it are, and how the difference that I could make as a veterinarian, working in food animal practice, became really important to me. I’m helping animals, which was my childhood dream, but I’m also helping farm families and the public in keeping food safe …. Veterinarians play a very important role and so it wrapped up all of the things I like, the science, medicine and people.”
Barratt was nominated by several people, including Ann Godkin, Dr. Ron Wieringa and Dr. Christie Whytock, and she received numerous letters of support from clients.
Godkin, a cattle health and veterinary consultant who was a long-time cattle health specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, has known Barratt as a student, veterinarian and fellow board member with the Ontario Association of Bovine Practitioners (OABP).
“We (the OABP) nominated Kelly for her leadership role in terms of her veterinarian involvement in issues beyond traditional veterinarian care,” says Godkin.
Barratt was heavily involved in the early stages of proAction, the Canadian dairy industry’s quality assurance program. She provided training for veterinarians on the modules and led by example.
“While she was providing training, she was also doing proAction with her own clients. It wasn’t just someone giving direction, it was someone actually doing, and then helping others to do as well,” says Godkin.
Now Barratt continues with proAction by working part-time for Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) as a quality assurance analyst.
“I help to act as a liaison and facilitate learning between the DFO and Ontario bovine practitioners, and I support dairy farmers. Through this, it’s primarily about the proAction quality assurance program, but it’s also a lot of other things, various research projects and quality assurance programs that are offered by DFO,” says Barratt.
“(In this role) she has promoted, managed and ultimately strengthened the relationship between dairy practitioners and DFO through her enthusiasm, energy, positive messaging and leadership,” says Dr. David Kelton, Professor of Epidemiology with the Department of Population Medicine at the University of Guelph.
As well, Barratt is the veterinarian representative for Canada on the revision of the Dairy Code of Practice led by the National Farm Animal Care Council, which helps set the standard for welfare of dairy cattle.
Barratt is involved in OABP’s continuing education programs to help improve the skills and training among veterinary technicians who work in bovine veterinary practices.
“She has been involved with the CE (continuing education) programs twice a year for the last five to seven years. Those have become quite important for strengthening the skills of the techs, allowing for networking between the techs and I think it’s also led to veterinarians being more willing to adopt techs and create a role for them in their practice,” says Godkin.
Barratt, who lives on a dairy farm with her partner Adam Brusso and two sons, Noah and Archie, is the first woman to win this award and also the youngest.
“I’m shocked, very honoured and very humbled that I was nominated and that they deemed me worthy of receiving this award. I have taken the time now to take it all in, to accept the honour, and understand that I have done a lot of neat stuff. It’s evolved. At the beginning, it was pure shock, and now I just feel so honoured,” says Barratt.
“I’m really grateful for the support of my entire family and the clinic. That clinic initially was always a dream of mine. If it wasn’t for going to that clinic, I don’t think I would have ever achieved all of the different successes that I have over the years.
“Heartland has been a huge support and I’m really proud of the business of all of my colleagues because it’s not something I would have ever been able to achieve solely on my own.”
