AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich has a conversation with current AABP President Dr. Dave Sjeklocha. We start with a little background about our president who is a graduate of Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine. Sjeklocha is currently a technical services veterinarian for Merck Animal Health and has focused his career on feedlot medicine and consulting.  

We start our conversation by discussing AABP Guidelines and Position Statements. These documents are publicly available under the ‘About’ menu of the AABP website. The president reviews these guidelines and opens them for a formal scientific review every 3-5 years. Sjeklocha has opened the Dehorning Guideline, Transportation of Cattle Guideline, and the Antimicrobial Resistance Position Statement. The first step in the review process is to open each document for a member comment period. AABP members can go to the guidelines page here to submit comments. AABP committees will review the comments and the document for any revisions before submitting their recommendations to the AABP Board of Directors. The comment period closes on November 15.  

Sjeklocha also talks about volunteer opportunities. We discuss that committees are a great way to get involved in AABP. Sjeklocha emphasizes that you do not need to be an expert on a topic to serve on a committee but just an interest in the topic. Review the committee descriptions under the committee page of the AABP website and if interested, click the send an email to this committee button and include your name, veterinary school, graduation year, professional employment and your interest in the committee to be approved by the board. We welcome all volunteers! 

Sjeklocha updates AABP members on the decision by the board to change the AABP dues year from July 1-June 30 to the calendar year. This will be implemented in 2025. When AABP members receive their dues invoice in the spring of 2025, they will have the option to renew for the next 6 months at 50% of the annual dues rate, or for 18 months, at 150% of the annual dues rate. This will shift everyone to the calendar year for their dues expiration date and allow members to choose which option works best for them. Sjeklocha reminds members that owners can pay for associate veterinary dues when they renew as well as pay for the dues for credentialed veterinary technicians. 

We also discuss several upcoming events from AABP including registration for the 8th AABP recent graduate conference, USDA grant funded practice management workshops, AABP vice president election, and upcoming webinars from AABP. We also discuss our new process for preconference seminars and will offer a limited number of seminars for the 2025 annual conference in Omaha as well as seminar opportunities for members outside of the annual conference. We close by inviting all cattle veterinarians to join AABP to take advantage of the many new continuing education resources for members as well as supporting the advocacy efforts of the organization that help all cattle veterinarians. 

LINKS: 

8th Annual AABP Recent Graduate Conference 

Vote for the 2025 AABP Vice President 

Apply for the practice management workshops 

Podcast describing the workshops