Ruminant and Swine Clinic
Since its start in 2011, the clinic has focused on livestock diseases, namely large and small ruminants, and swine, with emphasis on internal diseases and reproduction. Its objective is to provide students in the master’s degree programme of both veterinary faculties with a quality education corresponding to the current European standard. The clinic is divided into two departments according to the target animal species, i.e., the Ruminant Clinic and Swine Clinic.
Ruminant Clinic
Teaching
The Ruminant Clinic teaches courses focused primarily on large and small ruminants, i.e., cattle, sheep, and goats, kept on farms. The following courses are the essential ones: Internal diseases of ruminants, DOS Internal diseases of ruminants, Clinical propaedeutics of large animals, and in reproduction the courses in Obstetrics and gynaecology, and Andrology. In addition, the clinic participates in the teaching of the courses Large animal surgery, and in cooperation with the Central Laboratory for Large Animals of FVM it teaches the course Laboratory diagnostics of food animals. Another substantial part of the teaching are modules in the 6th year of study which are provided for both veterinary faculties and carried out on the School Farm Nový Jičín and cattle farms in Kunín and Šenov. The main mission of the clinic is to provide practical training for students in the above-listed courses, except for propaedeutics, on sick animals (patients) referred by general veterinarians from various farms. These patients (cows, heifers, and calves) are acquired for training through purchase contracts and are therefore the property of the clinic during hospitalization. The number of patients is optimized during the year to match the capacity of the teaching stables and the needs of practical training. In addition, small ruminants (sheep, goats and their young) whose owners approached the clinic directly, are hospitalized at the clinic. The clinic also provides permanent outpatient services and visits to various dairy and small ruminant farms which students can attend. Outpatient services are also part of the teaching at the reproduction facility of reproduction which focuses primarily on the treatment of reproduction disorders of cattle. The irreplaceable mission of the clinic is to provide the primary indicators needed for the accreditation and evaluation of teaching at veterinary faculties. These parameters, such as the number of patients (ruminants) treated at the clinic per year (227 in 2019), the number of ruminants treated commercially outside VETUNI (10460 in 2019) and the number of patients treated at the School Farm Nový Jičín (2450 in 2019) are exceeded annually compared to other clinics abroad.
Research
Research is supported by institutional projects (IGA, ITA) and focuses on current issues in metabolic disorders of dairy cows, calf rearing, dairy mastitis, castration of small ruminants and reproductive biotechnology. This activity requires frequent visits to the farms which cooperate with the clinic in the projects. The projects are undertaken by doctoral students as the problems researched are part of their postgraduate studies. Outstanding research at the ruminant clinic was research consisting of two large contract research projects of the CEVA company (France) and which were undertaken in cooperation with OJ CEITEC VETUNI Brno. Both projects were very demanding professionally and were also time consuming, as such they demonstrated the high professional standard of all staff who participated in them.
Facilities and equipment
The teaching stables are on the ground floor of building no. 7 (The Pavilion of Professor Klobouk) which was open in 2001and currently does not provide optimal conditions. Therefore, in connection with the accreditation of teaching premises, a more extensive reconstruction of stables, examination rooms and the operating theatre was carried out in January 2019. However, the overall reconstruction of the clinic stables to meet the current and future requirements for the quality of housing and welfare of large and small ruminants remains an ongoing task for the foreseeable future. This task must be completed by the next international evaluation in 2024. By that time a new facility for housing 70 dairy cows in Nový Dvůr, School Farm Nový Jičín which will be used primarily for teaching provided by the clinic, should be completed.
The clinic’s Department of Reproduction shares part of building no. 14 where there are teaching rooms and laboratories for specialised research in reproductive biotechnology and andrology. The facility has high-quality instrumentation for demanding biotechnological methods. Half of the building where the reproduction facility is located was renovated decades ago, however, to meet the current standards, it needs to be reconstructed including engineering networks.
For the teaching to be carried out, official means of transport for the transport of students to remote ruminant farms are a must, but also means of transport for transporting large animals from the clinic to the farms.
Swine Clinic
The Swine Clinic provides a complex background for teaching courses where the target species is a domestic pig. For this purpose, sick animals (patients) are obtained from farms for hospitalization. These patients are used for practical training in courses such as Internal Swine Disease (for FVM), Internal Swine Disease (for FVHE). Due to the unfavourable epizootiological situation, a part of the course DOS Internal Diseases of Swine is also taught here. In addition, the course Clinical Propaedeutics of Large Animals is taught on treated animals. A stable for boars is also used for practical training in Andrology.
Research
Research in the last two years has focused on topics that have been researched under institutional funding (IGA, ITA). NAAR projects were not submitted between 2016 and 2019 as co-financing from private sources was not possible. However, the newly accepted NAAR project to be undertaken between 2021 and 2023 and in which the clinic will participate, will be the topic "The Influence of livestock management and prevention of diseases, including biosecurity, on the reduction of antimicrobial administration". In recent years, research related to the contract research projects for CEVA in cooperation with OJ CEITEC VETUNI Brno has been very important. The research brought unique outcomes resulting in the registration of several drugs on a global scale. The research involving swine in experimental pens was also exceptionally intensive as the research projects of national agencies (MRA, MA CR) undertaken by the FVM staff was successfully carried out here.
Facilities and equipment
The facility housing the Swine Clinic, was opened in 2010 and subsequently won the "the construction of the South Moravian Region" award for its outstanding technological equipment which eliminates odours from pig stabling, an objective achieved after several years. However, the uniqueness of this building lies in its location. This is indeed the only swine housing in the country which is a straight line about 80 m from the tram stop and 50 m from the block of residential houses, which allows passengers and residents to easily check the effectiveness of the built-in technologies. To carry out all the above-mentioned activities the clinic must meet the demanding accreditation requirements for experimental animals’ facilities and legislation such as: Veterinary Care Act, Breeding Act, Animal Protection against Cruelty and Decrees of the Ministry of Agriculture on the use, prescription and dispensing of medicinal products in veterinary care. Therefore, the staff is continuously trained and encouraged to meet all requirements so that frequent inspections find the facility flawless. The Clinic has a special position at FVLM and the university its objective is to provide a full range of teaching on sick ruminants and pigs, both hospitalized and stabled outside the university. It should be noted that the challenging task of maintaining the operation of training stables, including the provision of intensive veterinary care during hospitalization, is achieved thanks to the responsible work of teachers, technicians, doctoral students, and all other staff, but also thanks to the significant financial support from FVM.
The current clinic developed from three separate workplaces (clinics) which were consecutively called: 1. Internal Medicine II (Internal Medicine II) which included the Swine Clinic. This facility changed into separate Departments of Swine and Ruminant Diseases in 1993 and these incorporated the so far independent Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology; 2. The Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology was founded in 1935 and existed until 1993; 3. Department of Swine Disease Prevention, Animal Husbandry and Zoohygiene, which closed in 1990.
Prominent professors in the history of the clinic
Prof. MVDr. Antonín Klobouk, D.Sc. – the founder of the clinic and head of the clinic for 37 years between 1919 and 1939 and 1945 and 1956, a prominent teacher and scientist, discovered the contagious polio virus in pigs and developed a vaccine against this disease
Prof. MVDr. Tibor Lax, CSc. – the head of the clinic between 1958 and 1968, studied the treatment of motility, diagnosis of mastitis and small ruminant diseases.
Prof. MVDr. Přemysl Jagoš, CSc. – the head of the clinic between 1970 and 1989, built an extensive clinic including diagnostics, therapy, and prevention of most livestock, led the development of methods of preventive animal diagnostics, established clinical laboratories of haematology, biochemistry, endocrinology, acid-base disorders and rumenology at the clinic.
Prof. MVDr. Bohumír Hofírek, D.Sc. – the head of the clinic between 1990 and 2000, a prominent expert in bovine leukosis, author of the essential textbook Diseases of cattle
Prof. MVDr. Jan Bouda, D.Sc. – a prominent specialist in endocrinology and acid-base disorders, an internationally recognized teacher, worked for a long time at a university in Mexico.
Prof. MVDr. Emil Přibyl, D.Sc. – the founder of the obstetrics clinic and its long-term head between 1935 and 1965, a recognized teacher and researcher in obstetrics and reproduction
Prof. MVDr. Jaroslav Kozumplík, D.Sc. – long-term head of the department, specialist in andrology and artificial insemination
Prof. MVDr. Eduard Kudláč, D.Sc. – long-term head of the clinic, specialist in obstetrics and reproductive disorders, the first dean of the faculty between 1990 and 1994
Prof. MVDr. Luboš Holý, CSc. – a prominent figure in reproduction, artificial insemination, embryo transfer and obstetrics, a recognized expert abroad, worked for many years at universities in Latin America.
Prof. MVDr. Jaroslav Dražan, CSc. – long-term head of the clinic, focused on cooperation with breeders, participated in the development of the vaccine against swine fever, the rector of the university between 1975 and 1987
Prof. MVDr. Jan Jeřábek, D.Sc. – the head of the department and a prominent researcher who developed a vaccine against swine fever, recognized abroad, where he worked for a long time
Prof. MVDr. Jiří Smola, CSc. – a long-time teacher and researcher, specialist in infectious diseases of pigs, director of the university research centre CEITEC, the current head of the Ruminant and Swine Clinic
Prof. MVDr. Jiří Smola, CSc.
