Dr. Dale Moore
By Josh Babcock, College of Veterinary Medicine
Dr. Dale Moore “happened to meet and fall in love with cows on a dairy farm in Custer, Washington, in the summer of 1978,” leading to a career devoted to preventive veterinary medicine for dairy cows and training veterinarians.
Forty-three years later, and shortly before retiring on July 6, Moore is honored for her accomplishments and contributions.
Moore, director of veterinary medicine at Washington State University, received this year’s Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award from the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis. The award honors UC Davis alumni whose careers reflect exemplary and outstanding achievements and achievements.
“Dr. Moore is a tremendous addition to the veterinary profession,” said Dr. Michael Lairmore, Dean of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. “She has shown creativity and dedication to enhancing the education and student experience while promoting cattle health. We are proud to claim you as an alumna. “
Moore has worked at WSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine for 14 years and has revived the WSU’s spring conference – a continuing education program for regional veterinarians and veterinary technicians. The program enables professionals to expand their knowledge long after completing the DVM and technician curricula and offers the opportunity to invite alumni back to campus. Moore began a dairy farming education program at Penn State in 1991.
“It’s about promoting their education and validating their knowledge and offering them new services that they want to offer,” said Moore. “Sometimes it’s refreshing, sometimes you learn something completely new, and sometimes it just provides evidence of different practices that you might want to incorporate.”
Dr. Dale Moore
During her time at WSU, Moore explored the benefits of continuing education programs by working closely with veterinarians and farmers.
“How do you know the three day workshop was useful and effective?” She asked. “That was really fun – working with practitioners and offering them new avenues to pursue in their practice.”
Moore’s influence can be seen in many dairy operations.
In 2012, she and her colleagues found out that raised calf huts with concrete blocks in dairy farms can lower the temperature, stress level and breathing rate of the calves.
“It can get hot in there,” said Moore. “We found that raising the barn increases airflow and can protect calves from heat stress. It’s easy to help the calves. “
Moore is also known for creating calf care audit checklists for farmers to ensure they are applying best practices, as well as for evaluating various calf health products.
“I’ve really focused my career on preventing animal health problems in dairy cows and calves by evaluating and developing tools and programs that protect animals from disease or injury,” she said.
It took Moore a long time to remember sending 50 resumes to dairy practices after receiving her PhD in Veterinary Medicine from UC Davis in 1983.
She was only accepted into a mixed animal practice where she would work with small and large animals.
“It wasn’t my passion, but it was difficult for a woman to become a dairy cow practitioner in the early 1980s,” said Moore.
So Moore returned to UC Davis and received her Masters in Preventive Veterinary Medicine and Residency Certificate in 1988. Although she found her career in academia contrary to her once-in-a-lifetime dream, she is pleased with what she has achieved at three land grant universities.
“I just love what I do and I always find new things to work on,” she says. “You know, I tell students, if you’re bored in veterinary medicine, you’re doing something wrong because there is always something to learn. Among other things, I tried to look at things that had never been done before. “
