Agwest Veterinary Group

03/26/2025

Sheep & Goat farmers…. We need your help!

Agwest will be printing the second editions of our “Agwest Sheep Guide” and “Agwest Goat Guide” and we would like to include photos of your sheep & goats.

Send us your favourite photos to use and we’ll make sure you get a copy of our completed guide once they’re printed!

You can e-mail them to: [email protected] or share them in this post. Thanks, we appreciate your help 🙂

03/18/2025

Agwest Veterinary Group feels so lucky to have Dr. Lisa McCrea Hemphill on our team!

Dr. Lisa has certainly been an amazing role model for not only female veterinarians but all women in agriculture. We are so grateful to have her as a veterinary colleague, a business partner, and as a friend! Lisa; Thanks for everything that you do for cows, farmers, and Agwest 😊

Since 1987, March has been declared Women’s History Month. And though history is about what has happened in the past, we also need to look to the future. To celebrate, this month AABP is tapping into some of its women members who are making their own history. We asked AABP members to recognize women members they admire, and why.

Dr. Lisa McCrea has worked tirelessly, day-in and day-out over the past 27 years as a practicing bovine veterinarian, says colleague Dr. Brent Fawcett. “She is passionate about helping cows and helping farmers; this is what motivates her. Lisa is an amazing bovine veterinarian and has been a role-model and inspiration for women veterinarians for two decades!”

McCrea has a long history of involvement with bovine medicine starting with her 1998 graduation from the Atlantic Veterinary College in Charlottetown, PEI. She practiced for nine years and specialized in dairy production medicine and reproduction, and in 2004 completed the Dairy Health Management Certificate Program at the Ontario Veterinary College. Fawcett says in 2007 McCrea moved to B.C. and joined Agwest Veterinary Group as a bovine veterinarian and business partner. “She joined our team with unparalleled passion for the cows and the dairy industry, a solid foundation in bovine veterinary medicine, and a work-ethic to be envious of, he says. “ She quickly gained the trust and respect of the Fraser Valley farming community and made a name for herself as the go-to veterinarian in western Canada for embryo transfer and in vitro fertilization.”

Fawcett adds that McCrea’s passion for advanced bovine reproduction led her to joining the board of directors for the Canadian Embryo Transfer Association in 2011. “In 2020, she was elected as the first ever female President of CETA; a particularly exciting accomplishment as she is helping to forge new ground for female veterinarians as an inspirational role model.”

More recently, Fawcett says, McCrea has demonstrated her genuine passion for cattle and compassion for their well-being by taking an active role in advocating for their day-to-day well-being. In 2019, she was appointed as the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association and Practicing Veterinarian representative to the Animal Care Technical Committee for Dairy Farmer’s of Canada ProAction. In this role, she acts as the voice of a bovine veterinarian subject-matter expert for ProAction updates. In 2022, she was appointed as the Farm Animal Veterinarian representative on BC’s Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food’s Advisory Committee on farmed animal welfare. Additionally, McCrea is currently the veterinary representative for Kwantlen Polytechnic University Animal Care Committee and is an Animal Welfare Auditor for BC Milk Marketing Board and Alberta Milk.

“Dr. Lisa has worked tirelessly, day-in and day-out over the past 27 years as a practicing bovine veterinarian,” Fawcett says. “She is passionate about helping cows and helping farmers; this is what motivates her. Along the way, she effectively collaborates with her colleagues, making us all better veterinarians. She takes the time to share her knowledge and skills with veterinary students, ensuring that they can learn the lessons that she has gained over the years. She volunteers on boards and committees, writes articles and presents at speaking engagements as a way to give back to her profession, the industry that she works in, and the community that she lives in.”

Fawcett notes that the entire team at Agwest Veterinary Group is certain that McCrea’s bright career will continue for many more years and that she will have many more achievements. “We are grateful to have her as a veterinary colleague, a business partner and as a friend.”

03/13/2025

This morning Dr. Jackie Wrigglesworth gave a presentation to Island Dairy Farmers at the BCDairy Info Day in the Cowichan Valley; “Maximizing the Potential in Your Barn”.

There were great discussions on; farm areas to manage that will have the biggest payback, transition care benefits, and dry matter intake relating to increased milk.

Missed the meeting today? Talk to Dr. Jackie the next time she is at your farm to hear what you missed; she has some great ideas!

03/12/2025

Attention BC Dairy Producers:

Agwest Veterinary Group is proud to sponsor the BCDA dairy producer meeting; Keeping it Canadian - Viewing our Industry Through a Different Lens.

Friday, March 14th 9:30am - 3pm
at Southern Irrigation in Chilliwack

This event is an excellent opportunity to learn more about how the Canadian Dairy Industry is changing, what the Canadian consumer & processors are looking for, and how your farm business can adapt and grow to meet these changes to be successful in the future. Look forward to hearing from 2 great industry people;

Dr. Kelly Barratt - Director of Animal Welfare Saputo Inc.
Topic: “The Perspective Pivot: Embracing Change & Growth”

Penny Lawlis - Lead Auditor & Trainer Professional Livestock Auditing Inc.
Topic: “Animal Welfare Assessment Programs”

To RSVP, follow the Eventbrite link:
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/keeping-it-canadian-viewing-our-industry-through-a-different-lens-tickets-1261690402959?aff=oddtdtcreator

03/10/2025

Attention goat & sheep farmers!

Join Agwest's veterinarian Dr. Brent Fawcett tomorrow evening 6:30 - 8pm at the Agwest Abbotsford office for the presentation “Kidding & Lambing 101: preparing for a successful birthing season”.

We hope to help you prepare for kidding & lambing so that you can prevent emergencies and have a successful, enjoyable kidding & lambing season.

Learn how to be prepared, what to do if something goes wrong, how to assist with delivery, sheep & goat nutrition, and how to keep lambs & kids healthy.

RSVP to the Agwest office to reserve your spot: either;
call 604-229-7231
e-mail [email protected]

Everyone is welcome to attend - we would love to see you!
Admission is free
Refreshments & snacks will be served
Agwest office: 1625 Angus Campbell Rd, Abbotsford

03/08/2025

March 8th is International Women’s Day; a day to recognize and celebrate women’s social, economical, cultural, and political achievements. It is also a time to highlight the progress made in advancing women’s rights and the ongoing efforts needed to ensure their full participation in all aspects of society.

Agwest couldn’t be happier and more proud that we have 10 confident, smart, caring, capable women on our team. 4 of 6 of our veterinarians are female! The majority of our team are female. This wasn’t the norm in farm-animal veterinary practice just 20 years ago when Agwest Veterinary Group was founded. But thanks to hard-work and leadership, the women on our team are role-models, showing the next generation of young women that they can do anything.

Today we celebrate these amazing women!

03/07/2025

Agwest has some exciting news to share!

We are very happy to announce that we have a new veterinarian joining our team this summer… Tara Sweetnam!

Tara Sweetnam has studied at the University of Saskatchewan, completing a Bachelors degree in Agriculture, Animal Science. She is currently wrapping up her studies at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine where she will graduate in June with a DVM, when she will become Dr. Tara 🩺 😃

Tara grew up on her families dairy farm near Winkler Manitoba. Growing up as a farm kid, Tara was heavily involved in 4-H and was on team Manitoba for the Western Canadian Classic for 10 years. This background has given her a practical foundation to build her veterinary training on. During vet school Tara had many great experiences at various veterinary clinics in Western Canada and the US, developing her skills. One of Tara’s external rotations was with Agwest, where our team had the opportunity to get to know her. She also attended the Summer Dairy Institute at Cornell University in 2024, an intensive, hands-on program for veterinary students who wish to specialize in dairy medicine. Tara has a special interest in reproduction and preventative medicine and will be joining our team providing Embryo Transfer and In Vitro Fertilization at the The Advanced Reproduction Centre.

Tara looks forward to joining our team and practicing veterinary medicine and we are excited to introduce her to all of our great clients!

03/06/2025

We’ll do whatever it takes to give cows the care and attention that they deserve!

Another successful herd health evaluation!

Routine checkups are a must, because a healthy herd is a happy herd. And a little 💩 never stopped Agwest Veterinary Group from making sure our animals get the care and attention they need!

03/02/2025

Dr. Jackie volunteered some of her time on this beautiful, sunny Saturday to teach some keen Cowichan 4H Beef Club kids practical animal health skills. What a great group of young farmers!

03/01/2025

It’s feeling like early spring this week! Agwest does a significant amount of beef practice in the Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island this time of year. We’re busy with calvings, calf health appointments, and bull breeding soundness exams. It’s busy but great work when the sun is shining ☀️

02/22/2025

Agwest is proud to work with Academy Farms - they are doing great work with their students and their herd!

If you haven’t found them yet, it is well worth your time to visit the working Water Buffalo & Bison farm and their own on-farm Market where you can buy lots of local products including their own Buffalo dairy & meat products.

02/20/2025

Interested in Dairy Farm Profitability? Take a look at Dr. Lisa McCrea’s Vet Focus article on page 40 of the latest issue of Western Canadian Dairy News - “The Cornerstone of Farm Profitability”.

Dr. Lisa does a really good job of summarizing the importance of a solid reproduction plan for farms to lead to increased farm profitability. It’s well worth the quick read!

BCHNews-Winter2025-Web

02/19/2025

Exciting news today as Thomas & Catherine Cuthbert of Southcoast Agro Farms Ltd. were named BC/Yukon’s Outstanding Young Farmers! This is quite an accomplishment when you consider the impressive number of passionate, hard-working, young farmers in BC.

Congratulations Thomas & Catherine for this recognition today. And congratulations to Albert & Chelsea of Little Qualicum Cheeseworks for your nomination. You are both inspiring farmers and Agwest is proud to work with both of your farms.

Congratulations to Thomas and Catherine Cuthbert - Southcoast Agro Farms Ltd. on being named BC/Yukon's Outstanding Young Farmers! We will be cheering you on at the National contest in November! Also congrats to our friends at Little Qualicum Cheeseworks on their nomination!

02/18/2025

Your veterinarian, Dr. Lisa McCrea will be speaking at this event tomorrow at 12 -3pm at the WestGen building (Agwest office) in Abbotsford.
This will be a great opportunity to learn and discuss how to take advantage of upcoming quota allocations. If you haven’t yet, RSVP to WestGen or Agwest Veterinary Group reception. We hope to see you there!

Join us Feb 19 at WestGen for insights on using genetics to meet 8% quota allocations. Featuring Paul Meyer & local producer panel!

02/17/2025

Agwest wishes you a happy, healthy Family Day with your loved ones!

The Agwest office is closed today so that our team can spend some time with their families but as always, our veterinarians are available today if you need veterinary care.

Call (604) 229-7231 in the Fraser Valley or (236) 800-3089 on Vancouver Island to speak with a vet today.

02/17/2025

Dr. Mélodie had a fantastic time at the Vancouver Island Goat Association meeting today discussing kidding season must-do’s. Thank you very much for having Agwest at your event!

From VIGA member Brin Jackson; "Great VIGA meeting today with Dr. Melodie from Ag West. She gave a wonderful and informative presentation on goat nutrition and kidding. Dr. Melodie went over her recommended kidding kit and we practiced “kidding” different goat birthing positions. I found this to be a really valuable session and I’m so glad I attended."

02/11/2025

Today Agwest is thinking about the hard-working farm families that we have the privilege to work with. Thank-you all for providing our community with nutritious and delicious foods. Thank-you for your trust in Agwest to help with the care of your herds. We are grateful to work along side of you!