381 | Beyond the Protocol: Why People Are the Key to Better Animal Care
Today, Peggy Coffeen is onsite as she welcomes Dr. Tera Barnhardt to the Uplevel Dairy Podcast to discuss leadership, communication, and navigating hard seasons in production agriculture. Dr. Barnhardt, a Kansas-based veterinarian, mom, business owner, and agriculture advocate, describes serving dairies, calf ranches, and feed yards across southwest Kansas and the High Plains while managing heavy animal movement logistics and regulatory paperwork.
She explains that effective problem solving depends less on perfect protocols and more on understanding each farm’s systems and people, especially as many employees lack agricultural backgrounds. Barnhardt emphasizes culturally aware training and tailoring communication to owners, managers, and frontline workers using different formats and technologies. She reflects on formative animal welfare leadership experiences in a large feeding operation, lessons from the H5N1 outbreak and consumer trust, and advice to view hard days as growth opportunities while integrating, not balancing, work and family.
Heritage Vet Partners is the nation’s leading veterinary partnership, specializing in mixed and large animal practices. Heritage Vet Partners provides a unique partnership model that preserves local practice legacies, serving dairy and other livestock producers and companion animal owners through shared services, data, and strategic growth. Learn more at HeritageVetPartners.com
01:04 Meet Dr. Tera Barnhardt
02:22 Many Hats and Advocacy
04:30 Why Rural Kansas
06:24 A Day on the Road
09:09 Problem Solving Systems
11:40 Training for Welfare
14:34 Leadership Lessons Feedyard
20:32 Adapting to Change
22:27 Communication Across Cultures
27:26 Social Media and Audiences
29:53 H5N1 Frontline Story
38:26 Advice for Young Vets
41:51 Integrating Work and Family
