Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine students will soon get hands-on learning experience in a new 18,000-square-foot facility in Hereford.

The state-of-the-art educational facility is set to open early next year. It will include an equine clinic, bovine clinic and small animal clinic. Fourth year students will gain experience specifically working with beef cattle.

“The unique one for Hereford is the interaction they have with the number of feed yards to provide us animal resources for students to work on. It is what’s going to actually drive the functionality of the program,” Dr. Britt Conklin, associate dean of clinical programs at Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine, said.

The partnership with the Hereford Veterinary Clinic allows the students to have real life experiences as a veterinarian. The students will spend four-week blocks working on surgeries, medical cases and diagnostic skills.

The facility will provide resources and veterinary services in food-animal and production-animal medicine and will be the major clinical outlet for food-animal instruction for the students.

“Even folks like Caviness have opportunities for us with lots of cows around all the time, so they can get practice with pregnancy diagnosis and things like that,” said Dr. Kynan Sturgess, co-owner of Hereford Veterinary Clinic. “So, we just have a wealth of folks in this community that are helping with the whole process.”

The veterinary students will help with the workload and provide more resources for the clinic.

“These students are going to be the ones doing most of the work,” Sturgess said.

The School of Veterinary Medicine strives to fill the need of rural veterinarians and bring graduates to rural and regional areas.

“There is a big need for veterinarians that can work on all species and veterinarians that are willing to go into rural areas,” Sturgess said.

The first group of students will begin their rotation in May. The 63 students will focus on food animal medicine and surgery.

The educational center will also allow faculty and researchers to pursue clinical activities that will further the mission of the school.