Veterinary Sciences Micro-Credentials

Credential Earned: Micro-Credential

Campus: Distance

Program Length: Flexible

Are you interested in large animal medicine, but find that you are lacking the experience and additional training required to be competent in the field? Is your current employer absolutely swamped with work and unable to find the time to help you develop those skills? Then this certificate may be your answer.

Northern’s Large Animal Certificate program is designed by leading industry experts to provide additional training and experience to graduates of a recognized veterinary technician program.

Each micro-credential is a stand-alone course. They are designed to provide a graduate veterinary technician with the necessary knowledge and skills to meet the evolving needs of the various large animal species.

The length and amount of material in each course is variable. The asynchronous online component allows participants to maintain full time employment within a veterinary practice.

Many feature a flexible placement requirement with specific tasks to be completed with the supervision and support of experienced technicians and veterinarians.

At each session’s end, there will be an in-person training and skills evaluation (“Farm School”) over a few days in Haileybury, Ontario.

Dairy Cattle Health Production Medicine and Software (Dairy Cattle I)

This micro-credential was designed by:

Dr. Ray Reynan, past President of the Ontario Association of Bovine Practitioners and Canadian Association of Bovine Practitioners
Wayne Shewfelt, past President of Ontario Association of Bovine Practitioners and former winner of the prestigious American Association of Bovine Practitioners Dairy Veterinary of the Year Award

Successful candidates will be able to function independently and confidently as part of a veterinary service delivery team.

These micro-credentials are offered online with farm school assessments in Haileybury, Ontario.

Applications & Registration

We are now taking applications into this program. After your application information is reviewed, you will be sent a registration link for the program.

Cost: $2,330.85

Apply Here

Modules in this Micro-Credential

Stockmanship:
Learn about herd and animal behavior, handle cattle with personal safety,and in a way that minimizes animal stress.

Dairy Industry:
This module will introduce the structure of the supply management system for dairy production, including an introduction to how milk checks are calculated and managed by producers.

Life of a Diary Cow:
Review the life cycle of a dairy cow from birth to herd removal. Particular focus on the impacts and assessment of the cow environment, from stall design to ventilation.

Udder Health/Milk Quality and Mastitis:
Gain techniques to troubleshoot milk quality issues from the collection of farm data, cleanliness, and aseptic samples. The successful candidate will be capable of establishing an in-clinic milk culturing laboratory within a traditional veterinary hospital.

Reproduction/Manipulation of Cycles and Breeding:
This unit explores the reproductive physiology of the modern dairy cow, including breeding synchronization protocols, use of computer software in tracking herd reproductive performance, and the role of technicians in both data entry and report preparation for dairy veterinarians.

Nutrition:
This module explores shaker boxes, audits, evaluating feed samples, and reading a feed tag.

Transition Cow Management:
Learn to use various computer software and monitoring programs in detection of transition cow disorders. Formally capture herd data such as body condition scoring and BHB sampling to assist in in this capacity.

Dairy Software:
Learn to run Dairycomp software. Prepare and interpret reports on milk production, reproduction, and health events.

About Mandatory Farm School

Farm School will take place over a 3 day period, during which time you will be completing a variety of activities that include lab work, visits to herds, classroom time, and others.

Before attending Farm School, students must complete the pre-activity Check List provided to you when you registered. Also please ensure that you bring a copy of your assignments/assessments from the course with you. Please bring your own rubber boots, outdoor clothing, and coveralls. Laundry facilities available for coveralls at the Haileybury campus.

Placement

Candidates are expected to arrange an approximately 40-hour volunteer placement at an approved veterinary clinic. The clinic should have at least 1 veterinarian who is currently a member of the Ontario Association of Bovine Practitioners (or suitable alternative if out-of-province) on staff. There is a detailed list of skills and cattle assessments that the candidate will be required to perform during their placement.

The days do not need to be consecutive. The placement could be a: 1 day every few weeks format, provided all the required work is completed.

The intention of the placement is to provide a one-to-one learning experience with either a veterinary or veterinary technician mentor.

Transportation

There is a regional airport in Timmins. Flights from Toronto to the Timmins Victor M. Power Airport (YTS) are 1 hour and 20 minutes in duration. There is also a regional airport in North Bay, closest to our Haileybury Campus. Flights from Toronto to the North Bay Jack Garland Airport are 1 hour in duration.

Students will have to use ground transportation from the airport in Timmins or North Bay. You are responsible for organizing your own transportation. For example, Northlander Bus Services or vehicle rentals. There are no taxi services available.

Timmins to Haileybury is approximately 2.5 hours (230 km) [Google Map]
North Bay to Haileybury is approximately 1.5 hours (155 km) [Google Map]
Toronto is 5 hours 44 minutes (540 km) to Haileybury. [Google Map]

Accommodations

The following are some accommodations available in Temiskaming Shores:

Haileybury Beach Motel
Leisure Inn
Edgewater Motel
Serenity Suites
Waterfront Inn
Wheel Inn Motel
Econo Lodge
Auberge Inn
Quality Inn

Micro-Credentials

Whether personal or professional development, micro-credentials indicate that you have developed skills to perform a specific workplace task.

Micro-credentials are offered completely online and at your own pace. Some micro-credentials are standalone courses, while others can be grouped into a specific Micro-Qualification (MQ) to obtain a micro-qualification certificate.

Browse All Micro-Credentials

Contact Information

Not sure where to start? For questions about our micro-credentials, please contact NCMicro@northern.on.ca.