Central Kentucky Small Ruminant Veterinary Services LLC

09/03/2026

Any of my clients in the Franklin Co and surrounding areas* looking to start showing, this would be a fun first show. If you have junior Nubians, they are still needing a couple to make numbers.

*Many of us drive 3-5 hours routinely for club shows, so having one so close is a blessing! Let's show them some support!

Showman is show management software made for livestock shows. Featuring a cloud based solution for online entries, payments and set of tools that help show day run smoothly.

09/01/2026

*9/4 Update to the update: switch is complete, and I think I'm caught up on communications, so if you haven't heard back from me please try again*

Phone system update!
On Thursday, 9/3, texts and calls may be impacted by a switch to a new phone system. I can still be reached through this page and through my website contact form/email, and texts/phone calls might work but are likely to be spotty throughout the day until the switch is complete.

My phone number is not changing, BUT I am getting a major upgrade in my phone system that will make life a lot better for me (hopefully!). Little changes some clients will notice that should make this a little more sustainable as a solo large animal veterinarian.

After hours, calls will be directed to leave a voicemail, either emergency or non emergency. If it isn't keyed as an emergency, I will not be notified. If no voicemail is left, I will not be notified.

Likewise, any text message after hours will receive an auto reply that it is after hours and I will not respond. There is an option of paying an urgent consultation fee and getting a quicker response. Again, the goal of this is to cut down on all the non urgent texts I get after hours. Or at least cut down on the notifications on my phone since my heart rate shoots up whenever my phone goes off and I just want to spend "relaxing" time with my family while also being available for true emergencies. 🙃

I will continue to ask that even with these mechanisms in place, folks still respect my time "after hours." Schedule texts for later if you're just sending a non urgent message before you forget. Set a reminder to call during business hours if you want to chat about something non urgent. Leave a voicemail if you want a call back- I hate when I have to call back and I have zero clue what I'm in for, then end up in a 30 minute long conversation (hate to be this way but time is money, if I'm doing this especially for a non client I'm not getting paid for it and that is time lost with my family and working on my own farm). If it's too long for a voicemail or text message, good chance you just need to schedule a farm call.

Thanks for your cooperation and understanding. If I'm gonna be in this for the long haul, these are some necessary changes to keep emergency availability sustainable.

If you're not in my service area, consider similar tips for working with your vets! If we never get to truly clock out, the opportunity to at least get a slight break is important.

(Photo of what I'd rather be doing than managing non urgent texts after hours and on weekends)

08/30/2026

This “product” is for 1 animal to be lap AI’d. If multiple animals are being brought, you’ll need to pay that full amount to hold your place. This is to prevent non payments from negatively impacting my business because there will be limited time to enforce billing on lap AI day. Due to sche...

08/15/2026

Attention livestock exhibitors! Curious about the animal health inspection at this year’s state fair? The Office of the State Vet has created a video that explains the process, location, parking information, and provides a directory.

You can access this information by scanning our QR code or via this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PZqTJ8Inhc0E3x8mDQeDqUpjT3Tm_P8I/view

08/12/2026

Did you know it takes approximately 60 days for s***matogenesis?

That means even if you are planning to wait until October to breed your does, those s***m cells that will be making March babies are being formed now. Same goes for buck collections later this year.
Which is why I usually like to do my buck maintenance in July.

That didn't happen this year. 🙃 But better late than never, for the most part.

What do I do for maintenance? Hoof trims if needed, FAMACHA scoring and deworming if needed, booster CDT (in my case Cavalry 9), trim scurs or whatever other random health thing is going on. Sometimes I do MultiMin, I've actually kept minerals out this year so just did BoSe.
This is it. I touch my bucks once a year other than dragging them out to breed. I'm not necessarily proud of that, but you do have to have some amount of resilience around here to make up for the less resilient ones I have to treat everywhere else every day.

(I guess "not touching them" is not entirely true- I've used my Boer buck twice in the last month for blood transfusions... Case in point.)

I had an hour "free" yesterday and still wasn't feeling it, so I pulled the cooperative boys into the vet shed where there is at least AC and everything is conveniently located. (I know Hercules wasn't strapped in the greatest, but I was having difficulty getting the head piece to hold my adjustment, fortunately they're fairly good boys.)

If you haven't thought of this yet, maybe take this as your cue before rut is in full swing. 😊

07/31/2026

Y'all in northern Kentucky give my friend and fellow LMU grad a follow for her new large animal practice!

Hello everyone and welcome! I would like to take a moment to introduce myself. I am Dr. Audrey Emery Huck and I am excited to be starting Venture Veterinary Services. I grew up in Pendleton county and became interested in veterinary medicine while caring for my horses. I graduated from Morehead State University with a degree in Veterinary Sciences. I then received my DVM from Lincoln Memorial University College of Veterinary Medicine. Since graduating, I have primarily practiced mixed animal medicine.

In my personal life, I live on a farm with my husband, Tyler. We have a commercial cow-calf operation and raise hay and corn silage. We also have 2 dogs and 3 cats. In my free time I enjoy reading, hiking, cooking, and spending time with my family.

Thank you for being here and I look forward to sharing more in the near future!

🩺🐮🐴🐖🐐🐑

07/27/2026

Mastitis cultures are an important part of raising dairy goats. I've started implementing them in my own herd with any high somatic cell count (SCC) on my monthly DHI test. DHI test has been really valuable for me in that way just in catching possible subclinical mastitis cases before a doe is uneven, because once a doe is uneven it is really difficult to get that productivity back completely.
At the first sign of mastitis (uneven production, swelling, abnormal milk, unexplained sudden painfulness on one side, etc), I pull milk for a culture. It is very inexpensive to culture compared to allowing it to get worse and permanently damage the mammary system. If my suspicion is very high I may go on and treat after pulling that sample, but in some cases I will wait for a result (most of my high SCC does will be a no growth, no treatment, and they come back down on the next test). On client animals I am usually sending these out to the state diagnostic lab so we have definitive typing and sensitivity to make sure we picked the right drug if indicated. Often though I'll also set up a plate on my own so I can get a "guess" before the lab has a result.
I use the Minnesota Tri Plate system and a basic heating pad off Amazon. The plates can be pricey if you only have a few animals, but well worth it if you don't have a lab close.

(This particular case was a non-aureus Staph that was definitively typed by the state lab. Usually I will cover each part of the plate with a back and forth motion but in this case wrote "R" and "l" for each side. Plates are incubated upside down to prevent condensation buildup.)

07/08/2026

I launched a new "resources" page on the website. I plan to add on to it eventually with more of my own educational stuff for when I get the same questions over and over. In the meantime though, there are lots of great resources out there already.
I included all the podcast episodes I've been on. The one about parasite management is pretty timely for right now, as I just went through and FAMACHA scored my own herd and treated accordingly.

Podcast EpisodesI’ve been fortunate to be on a number of podcast episodes. If you’re interested in several free hours of listening to me run my mouth about goat health, check these out!Ringside: An American Dairy Goat PodcastUnderstanding Extra-Label and Illegal Drug Use in Dairy Goats (January ...

05/09/2026

I've been added to the list of certified FAMACHA instructors (wormx.info/ky). Should've done this a long time ago since I teach these principles at every new client consultation and FAMACHA score is step 1 of any small ruminant exam for me! Anyways, I will have FAMACHA cards for anybody passing the FAMACHA certification test that is able to demonstrate proficiency in person. As we head into slower summer months, I may also consider hosting workshops upon request.

The mission of the ACSRPC is two-fold: (1) developing novel methods for sustainable control of gastrointestinal parasites in small ruminants and (2) providing information to the stakeholders in the small ruminant industry on the most up-to-date methods and guidelines for management of gastrointestin...