ISU student from Manning helps with vet care

Aly Stadtlander, a 2017 IKM-Manning High School graduate and a student at Iowa State University, is taking step toward earning her degree in veterinary medicine, helping oversee health and wellbeing of livestock in the Iowa State Fair currently underway in Des Moines.

Stadtlander is part of small army of clinicians and students from Iowa State’s College of Veterinary Medicine serving at the fair. One of the clinicians is Mitch Hiscocks, formerly of Carroll, who was an owner of Carroll Veterinary Clinic.

This is Stadtlander’s second year of service at the fair. Last year she helped check in livestock entries.

Stadtlander told the Times Herald that working at the fair is special experience.

“The kids are really excited to show their animals,” she said. “They’ve worked really hard over months to prepare for this opportunity. It’s just great to see the excitement.”

She added, “This will give me a good overview of the show industry as well as the species they exhibit at the fair, understanding the standards for the shows, animal husbandry practices and typical health challenges at the fair.”

Stadtlander has earned a bachelor’s degree in animal science degree this month and expects to receive her degree in veterinary medicine next May. Her experience at the fair will count as one of her electives.

She said her interest is primarily in livestock production species, such as cows, pigs, sheep and goats.

She’s a daughter of Todd and Jean Stadtlander. Todd is an independent insurance agent and owns Manning Insurance and Realty, and Jean is well known for her as both the “community volunteer” and “Manning photographer,” on hand with her camera at all the local events.

Aly’s interest in livestock veterinary medicine didn’t begin with living on a farm.

Growing up in a rural community with parents not involved in agriculture forced her to create opportunities for herself in the animal agriculture industry, she says

“I got into FFA in high school, which really made me love ag,” she says. “My adviser, Ben Booth, pushed me and was an awesome advocate for me to get my foot in the door with agriculture. I did some livestock judging in high school. Then I started working for AMVC (a mixed animal clinic) and fell in love with cattle.”

Most of her experience was working with cow-calf, stocker, and feedlot operations. She assisted with herd health assessments, disease outbreaks, and reproductive evaluation. 

During her undergraduate degree, at Iowa State she worked at the school’s ruminant nutrition farm assisting in feedlot research trials. 

In the spring of 2019, she traveled to Kamuli, Uganda (east-central Africa) and took part in the Iowa State-Uganda Program. During her time there, she taught community members and children about creating a sustainable livelihood in animal agriculture. 

“After returning home from this experience and growing up in a household that preached service before self,” she says, “I wanted to help make an impact from an experience that had such an impact on me. I set a goal of running a marathon that raised $10,000. The schools utilized this money to maintain their garden and incorporate chickens into the program.”

While in veterinary school she was an intern for the Bovine Veterinary Internship Program at Iowa State. She performed a field research trial at a confined commercial cow-calf operation. 

She serves on the Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine student advisory board where, she says, she’s able to help direct the faculty to improve the large animal medicine curriculum. Over the past year she served as the ISU American Association of Bovine Practitioners Student Chapter president. 

“As president, I continued to bring our members opportunities to build their skills and create a network,” she says. “I planned events such as an AABP Student Networking Event where our chapter brought in large animal focused practices to network with our student members for internships, externship, or future job opportunities. I also implemented student-led disease discussions where our exec members would present and highlight areas that impact bovine medicine to our student members.”

She also served as the 2021-2022 AABP student chapter treasurer and large animal rounds coordinator. She has participated in numerous AABP events such as attending annual national AABP conventions, wetlabs, and meetings. 

She is also currently serving as the Iowa Veterinary Medicine Association bovine committee student representative where she is a liaison between the IVMA and AABP student chapter. 

She’s also active in other clubs: American Association of Swine Veterinarians, American Association of Small Ruminant Practitioners, Society for Theriogenology and VBMA. 

“Continuing my journey at Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, I strive to take advantage of all the opportunities that will help reach my professional goals of becoming a bovine veterinarian,” she says.  

Stadtlander, who says she has a 3.85-3.90 grade-point average, says she was driven to veterinary medicine wanting to do her part in animal agriculture. 

“I have a passion for the industry,” she says, “but what I’ve really realized is I love the work ethic that goes into it, which is why I think I want to be a part of it and appreciate it so much. I also love the sustainability that goes with it.”