366 | Service Before Self: A Dairy Veterinarian's Calling
Today on the Uplevel Dairy Podcast, Peggy Coffeen talks with Dr. Jared Risser of Dairy Veterinary and Management Services in Goshen, Indiana, about dairy veterinary work as a service-driven career built on trust and relationships. Raised on a Lancaster County, Pennsylvania dairy farm, Risser moved to Indiana in 2017, now serves a 50-mile radius with dairies ranging from 10 cows to 4,000, and describes being a “jack of all trades” for many smaller farms.
He shares the variety of his days—herd checks, calvings, surgeries, advisory meetings—and a memorable rabies-suspect euthanasia case requiring lab testing after human exposure. Risser discusses how farm technology, especially activity monitoring systems and AI-assisted data analysis, is improving health detection and management decisions, and reflects on gains in components and productivity, humility in practice, and modeling service for his four-year-old son who sometimes joins farm calls.
01:44 Jared’s Dairy Roots
03:41 Indiana Practice Bubble
05:21 Trust on Farm
06:15 Crazy Days on Call
10:02 Service Meets Tech
11:16 Data and AI Wins
13:09 Health Monitoring Shift
15:44 Future Production Limits
19:14 AI for Vets
20:52 Bringing Kids Along
25:04 Legacy of Service
26:45 Rapid Fire Wisdom
30:03 Relationships Beyond Cows
