Lillian Feider

Agriculture is my family’s legacy. Both of my parents grew up on dairy farms, and I am now the fourth generation on Feider Farms, LLC in New Holstein, Wisconsin. From early on, I envisioned being a part of the agriculture industry and never considered anything else. My passion for bovine medicine is evident, and I hope to use to my production background and well-rounded experiences for the benefit of the industry. I am a third-year veterinary student at the University of Wisconsin – Madison School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM). My path to graduate school was a little different as I was accepted through an accelerated, elite program called Food Animal Veterinary Medical Scholars (FAVeMedS). This solidified my goal of obtaining my Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) Degree in my sophomore year of college. I graduated summa cum laude from the University of Wisconsin – Platteville in May 2020 with a major in Animal Science and a minor in Spanish in just three years. My career goal is to be a food animal general practitioner, focusing primarily on dairy cattle in Northeast Wisconsin. Further along in my career, I dream to be the staff veterinarian of a large dairy farm in the area, a practice owner, or work for a consulting company. Within dairy veterinary medicine, I am particularly interested in overall herd management and consulting, calf and heifer care, and bilingual employee training. I have a strong desire to use my dairy production background as a future veterinarian by consulting with farmers to help them provide the highest quality of animal husbandry and welfare. I want to use the communication and language skills I have developed to effectively interact with Spanish-speaking employees through day-to-day conversations, training sessions, and informational materials. Another one of my goals is to provide financial assistance to animal science and veterinary students because I have been extremely fortunate to have received several scholarships from generous donors. Throughout veterinary school, I have attended a Calf Care Workshop hosted by the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin and the 2021 and 2022 American Association of Bovine Practitioners Annual Conferences where I listened to numerous presentations by veterinarians and producers. From these experiences I realized that one of my career goals is to be an educational speaker for events such as these where I can give back to the dairy community and inform others on the topics I am passionate about including calf care, pain management, biosecurity, and mental health in the agriculture industry. My final career goal is to mentor and guide other aspiring food animal veterinarians, as I feel I have the character to do just that and genuinely appreciate all the mentorship and support from veterinarians that I have worked with throughout the years. I am excited to be pursuing a career in food animal veterinary medicine which will allow me to give back to the agriculture industry that has given so much to me!