The Texas A&M University system dispatched representatives to Canyon, Texas, last week to announce their support for a new veterinary school. A&M plans to open a branch of their vet school on the campus of West Texas A&M,reports KFDA.
The new college will expand opportunities for panhandle students of agriculture and animal science. The WT expansion will be the first new branch of A&M’s veterinary program. Three other campuses throughout Texas will also soon open Aggie veterinary branches.
In Canyon, school officials are working to tailor the new program to the Texas panhandle. That means a major focus on the beef industry. The lack of livestock vets on the High Plains has grown increasingly troublesome to ranchers over the past decades. So the new school comes as a welcome relief. WT hopes local students will remain in the panhandle as vets in rural communities.