Sheep Rock, LLC: Veterinary Consulting

18/09/2025

Something I have relied on really heavily in the last year or so is mammary gland and teat imaging via ultrasound. I’ve found it to be a great source of information, especially when I’ve got the milk tests (SCCs or cultures, ideally both!) in hand. Ultrasounding the udder going into the dry period has been especially helpful when the dairy farmer is planning for the next lactation cycle, weighing their options and coming to a decision point. Yes, palpation is great, but with live imaging I can differentiate between an angry lymph node, a soft tissue mass, or an abscess. Some abscesses will be harboring sneaky contagious bacteria that aren’t necessarily showing up on your SCCs or cultures, but come next lactation cycle will cause a headache. I can also see duct dilation, fibrotic (chronically scarred) ducts or teat cisterns, little inflamed nodules around the annular ring that may result in major milk flow issues, and so on. This is something we were able to practice in real time when dairy farmer, ag educator, and veterinary technician Kristie Laverdiere brought her Alpine Goat, Ginny, to Lakeview High School’s Veterinary Science class. Kristie is the owner/operator of Lavender Hills Farm in Canaan, and during a milking session recently, she discovered palpable, irritating lumps in Ginny’s udder. Her milk tests were negative for mastitis, but her overall production was diminishing. Melissa and I agreed to meet Kristie and Ginny in the Vet Sci classroom at Lakeview to work up the case with the students. We lead them through a brief thought exercise as a fun way to introduce basic ultrasound concepts and basic mammary health concepts, then Ginny kindly let us ultrasound her right in the room. We came up with an answer and some ways to increase her comfort level. I don’t want to share Ginny’s private information, but I’ll say this is a temporary issue and easily manageable. Ginny pooped on the floor, ate a napkin off the desk, and got some scratches from everyone.

05/09/2025

Been sitting on this one for a while now, mostly because it’s hard to figure out how to introduce someone with so much impact. Some of my clients have already worked with Melissa on a farm call, but many of you will already know her from the agricultural community or the veterinary field. Melissa’s very first job was on a dairy farm in Massachusetts, where she milked the cows and tended to the calves, before eventually moving on to manage an equine facility. Once settled in Connecticut, she became a first generation farmer. This year will be her fifteenth year operating the Winter Winds Farm right here in Litchfield. The Finn family runs a cow/calf program and a pig program, they make hay and maple syrup, and grow row crops and sweet corn. All the while, Melissa built a career as a veterinary technician, accruing an impressive 21 years overall of technical experience, 19 of which were dedicated to the large animal medicine and surgery niche. I may have bribed her with chocolate milk, but either way, you’ll be seeing a lot more of her. Melissa is now part of my team, which most importantly makes her part of your team. Many of you will have already benefited from having her as a neighboring farmer or a technician, so you’ll know just how much we all stand to gain. I hope you’re all as excited to welcome Melissa as I am!

29/08/2025

The Goshen Fair is this weekend! I did a little emergency preparedness consulting behind the scenes this year. I’m happy to have contributed, even in my very small way, to work, planning, preparation and elbow grease that goes into making this fair possible. Express your gratitude for the volunteers who make this great fair what it is, or even better, find out how you can volunteer next year! Visit my post below for some basic trailer and show safety reminders to keep your show string safe this year.

Last night I met with local fair supervisors in preparation for the 2025 fair and show season. We spitballed potential stumbling points for the upcoming season and brainstormed preparation plans for the fairgrounds. This time of year you are probably seeing a lot of “how to prepare for CVIs” posts regarding ear tags, IDs, and milk tests, so I’ll spare you from more of that. But, here are some things that are often overlooked and best not forgotten before a hectic season of hauling live animals to shows:
1. Knock the dust off your trailer, check your wheel bearings, look under the floorboards, check hitch and couple welds, Do a short practice run before your first travel date. Double check the tow ratings for your truck and compare it to the sum of your trailer, your live animals, your cargo, and make sure you are not overloading your truck. Don’t forget that summer tourists have no idea how to share the road with a trailer and put some extra reflective strips on your trailer.
2. Have a quarantine area pre-set in case you end up coming home from the show with a sick animal. It’s never a bad idea to quarantine an apparently healthy animal coming home from a show.
3. Remember that the two worst forms of stress for livestock, especially young stock, are heat and travel. Even a five minute drive down the road triggers a stress response. Make an effort to reduce time spent on the trailer, loading and unloading to as minimal as possible. Bring big fans rated for outdoor use and extension cords rated for outdoor use to the show.
4. If you are traveling far, ask your fair supervisor or barn superintendent if they have a vet overseeing the fair, or get the contact information for a practice local to that fair who is willing to attend to exhibitors during those dates. Talk to your vet at home about if you should carry an emergency kit for your animals and what should be in it. Take care not to temperature abuse medications.
5. Pack an emergency kit for the humans too!

13/08/2025

I have a lot of things I want to say about this latest trip to Martha’s Vineyard, but I will start with the ride-alongs. This week, my oldest son and I drove from farm to farm, taking every dusty back road and straying from the beaten path, and we did it with company! Dr. Corinna Barry, DVM joined us as we assessed some beef herds, examined dairy calves for the fair, did chicken flock inspections, and consulted on some chronic problem cases. Dr. Barry works with both Backstretch Equine and Vineyard Vet, and I am really, really grateful for her interest in the island’s food-producing farms, and her motivation to collaborate with me. Dana West, CVT also works with Backstretch Equine. She joined as we did pregnancy imaging, managed a parasite workup in a dairy goat kid group, talked pastured beef nutrition, inspected fair-bound critters, and did routine vaccines. Both of these veterinary professionals are part of the island’s NEW euthanasia services group, a massive asset. I am very much looking forward to all of us working in a team capacity. The sum is greater than its parts - the island’s farmers will benefit from two new players. Last but certainly not least, Wren of the Katama Cowpokes 4-H Club joined me for the second summer in a row, as my partner in crime. Do you know Wren? If not, it’s time to learn just how cool this kid is. Wren will be at the 163rd Martha’s Vineyard Fair, where her pulling team of heifers will be put to the test against oxen pull teams from all across the country. When she’s not training her team, Wren is busy working with her dairy goats, riding her horse Pluto, volunteering with the Ag Society, and volunteering with First Light Preschool. She has done internships with Island Grown Initiative and Slough Farm as well. She really puts in the work when she’s riding with me - restraining large animals, getting dirty, piggybacking my son around when he’s bored, and asking the hard questions. Show me a cooler kid - I’ll wait. Everyone please join me in thanking all of these women for their dedication to agriculture and wish Wren a great show season.

21/07/2025

My job will forever be in the crosshairs of money versus ethics. It’s the age-old dilemma of veterinary medicine anywhere you look – small animal, mixed animal, equine, or food animal – but the answers are different for each sector. That’s how I see it, because like it or not, farms are agricultural businesses and livestock are valued assets. On a budget pie chart, there’s a slice for animal health care, and only a sliver of that slice is for vet work. My practice is intentionally built to operate within the client’s budgetary pressure while still valuing my time and my operating expenses. Raising animals comes with a duty to ensure their health and happiness. How useful would I be in carrying out that mission if my clients can’t afford services?

I work with a tech who is also a farmer, like myself. Recently we were wrapping up two piglet hernia repairs and talking about our individual motivations for these surgeries. We wondered how other farmers or vet teams would have proceeded. The second piglet’s hernia was just cranial to the prepuce, and as the hole began shrinking on its own, it entrapped and strangulated two loops of small intestine. The repair was not simple, and three inches of small intestine were almost dead. The piglet wouldn’t have survived the weekend without emergency surgery. The first piglet had a scrotal hernia. There was no life-threatening bowel strangulation, but the farmer would not have been able to castrate the piglet without likely evisceration.

As piglet #2 grunted his way out of anesthesia and re-entered the waking world, I wondered how often farmers wouldn’t do it, due to sunk costs. Maybe they calculate what they’ve already put into the piglet and chalk it up as a loss. To both of us, it was clearly worth the cost to provide these piglets with comfort and stability, especially when you consider market price at market weight should return the investment. Sure, surgical risks weigh heavily on that prospective return. Some would say it is “worth it” to breakeven, some would criticize the choice to operate at all, and some would say there’s an ethical duty to operate even if there was a guaranteed loss. What would you say?

17/06/2025

Last night I met with local fair supervisors in preparation for the 2025 fair and show season. We spitballed potential stumbling points for the upcoming season and brainstormed preparation plans for the fairgrounds. This time of year you are probably seeing a lot of “how to prepare for CVIs” posts regarding ear tags, IDs, and milk tests, so I’ll spare you from more of that. But, here are some things that are often overlooked and best not forgotten before a hectic season of hauling live animals to shows:
1. Knock the dust off your trailer, check your wheel bearings, look under the floorboards, check hitch and couple welds, Do a short practice run before your first travel date. Double check the tow ratings for your truck and compare it to the sum of your trailer, your live animals, your cargo, and make sure you are not overloading your truck. Don’t forget that summer tourists have no idea how to share the road with a trailer and put some extra reflective strips on your trailer.
2. Have a quarantine area pre-set in case you end up coming home from the show with a sick animal. It’s never a bad idea to quarantine an apparently healthy animal coming home from a show.
3. Remember that the two worst forms of stress for livestock, especially young stock, are heat and travel. Even a five minute drive down the road triggers a stress response. Make an effort to reduce time spent on the trailer, loading and unloading to as minimal as possible. Bring big fans rated for outdoor use and extension cords rated for outdoor use to the show.
4. If you are traveling far, ask your fair supervisor or barn superintendent if they have a vet overseeing the fair, or get the contact information for a practice local to that fair who is willing to attend to exhibitors during those dates. Talk to your vet at home about if you should carry an emergency kit for your animals and what should be in it. Take care not to temperature abuse medications.
5. Pack an emergency kit for the humans too!

08/06/2025

Here in Litchfield we've got heat, we've got humidity, we've got record rainfall, and now we have Route 202 closed to traffic from June 16th until August 31st. What kind of traffic, you say? All of it. What hours of the day, you say? All of them. Where do we operate this practice from? Right smack dab in the middle of the closure.

If you follow the link below there are more details, along with a recommended detour route, which adds at least 20 minutes to any drive. As a practice whose caseload majority is emergency care, this is a major wrench. It's more like a wrench set with the 10mm missing.

Here is the important stuff:

- From June 16 to August 31, my response time will likely be impacted to the tune of +15 minutes. Both regular clients and ER clients know that I prioritize being prompt and punctual. I will trial alternative routes in preparation for this, and factor that into emergency planning.
- Normal business hours for this practice are 9am-4pm. This detour will significantly extend the amount of time that I will spend picking up my children at camp/daycare. I do not anticipate a change to normal business hours, however incoming non-emergency communications received at the end of the day may have a delayed response. Remember, if you are experiencing an emergency, CALL and leave a voicemail saying it's an emergency, do NOT TEXT. Emergency voicemails from clients always receive the fastest response, and they rank over any other incoming communications.
- If you regularly pick up medications and/or drop off lab specimens at my location, factor an additional 20 minutes minimum into your route. If it presents a major obstacle, shoot me an email and we an plan alternate pick ups/drop offs.
- The practice's veterinary technician, though not responding from the closed section of 202, lives in close proximity to Route 202 in Litchfield. Therefore, if she is scheduled to join me for a regular farm call OR if she is responding to an emergency, she may arrive in a separate vehicle from me for the sake of time. She will likely experience significant traffic pattern delays coming from her home base as well.

Above all, safety first. There will be people on foot directing traffic and their safety matters. There will be summer traffic complicating all of this and nobody needs a fender bender in an area with no cell service. Use your noggin, drive safe, and when in doubt during a livestock emergency, just call.

Press Release Homepage Replacement of Bridge Carrying Route 202 over Still Brook in Litchfield 1/29/2025 The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) is announcing the replacement of Bridge No. 02231 carrying Route 202 over Still Brook in Litchfield. This project is scheduled to start constr...

21/05/2025

Where do your dollars go when you pay an invoice with me? One of my practice goals is to have clients who feel confident sending a chunk of change my way knowing it’s money well spent. Obviously, you pay for the services and materials, but you do pay for more than that. You’re investing into a practice who thinks long-term and focuses on community building. You’re investing into a practitioner who will use it to continue to develop professionally and seek educational opportunities that put value back into local agriculture. Thanks to you all, I was able to attend the first ever American Association of Bovine Practitioners Milk Quality Seminar in Ohio last week/weekend. To quote an article about the conference, “The conference’s goals are to give farm vets milk quality consultation skills you will bring directly to the barn and parlor, and can impart to the farm staff for their independent usage.” It was a heck of an education and only kept me away for a few days. In a small focus group with several leaders in the dairy industry, I was able to make big advancements in my knowledge of milk pathogens, milk quality, and parlor assessment. There’s no such thing as too much support when it comes to the small scale Connecticut dairy farmer. Thank you for making this happen, and thanks to my clients for supporting this trip!

14/04/2025

Screenshot these pics in case of emergency if you own livestock in CT! You do not need a VCPR (established relationship with me) to get emergency services after hours or on the weekends. However, you DO need to wait if my regular clients, or clients referred by my neighboring practices, need me first. Please read carefully because I can do a lot of things, but I won’t do all of the things! Read now, save time, and be organized with your farm’s emergency plans. This represents a very slight change from the January ‘25 pinned post so I’m posting anew just in case.

14/03/2025

Coming off the heels of a super intense week, I’m tired and I’ve got no educational stories for you, no inspirational poster quotes, no PSAs, no sales pitches, and no hills to die on. All I’ve got, happens to be all I want, which is this view and a big old jug of iced tea. Happy Friday

12/03/2025

Located in Roxbury, we are a mixed animal veterinary practice serving greater Litchfield County, Connecticut.

28/02/2025

Does avian flu have your farming Facebook groups in emotional tatters? Do you find yourself confused by rabies vaccination in goats year after year? Does lambing and kidding season always leave you with infectious disease questions and 47 different answers? Bring your homestead planning questions, your 4-H kids, your commodity production concerns, and your favorite chicken to this town hall style zoom meeting. I’m a private practice owner with poultry and livestock experience, state and federal experience, my own farm, and my own opinions, and id like to clear some things up.