Swine vet honoured by Ontario Veterinary Medical Association

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

by SUSAN MANN

Swine veterinarian Doug MacDougald says being named the recipient of the Outstanding Veterinarian Award by the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association last month was unexpected but it was also nice to be recognized by peers.

MacDougald says as swine veterinarians they’re members of the association but “we’re not mainstream veterinarians. It’s nice to have our smaller group of swine veterinarians recognized by our peers for the work we do in agriculture and in the swine industry.”

MacDougald, who lives in Stratford with his wife, Barbara, received the award Jan. 30 at the association’s conference and trade show in Toronto. He is a veterinarian with South West Ontario Veterinary Services. He’s also one of the founding members of the Ontario Swine Health Advisory Board and currently serves as chair.

MacDougald graduated from the University of Guelph’s Ontario Veterinary College in 1977. Soon after completing his degree, he says one of his goals was to pursue an interest in developing Ontario’s swine production industry and pig health management. In 1987, he established his swine-only practice.

In 2010, five swine practices, including MacDougald’s, were merged into one practice to form South West Ontario Veterinary Services with four locations in Southwestern Ontario. The practice serves more than 50 per cent of the Ontario’s 1,549 pork producers along with farmers in Western Canada and the United States.

The Ontario veterinary association says in a Feb. 11 press release the outstanding veterinarian award recognizes a veterinarian for extraordinary contributions to the profession. MacDougald was nominated by his peers for his dedication to the swine industry and the key role he played in addressing porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, which first showed up in Ontario about a year ago and has also been killing millions of piglets in the American swine industry since April 2013.

But the Ontario industry “has clearly” contained the virus so much better than the American industry, he says. “It’s a great testament to the collaborative work our entire industry has done.” BF