Student Stories: Dr. Jackie Stalker, Large Animal Veterinarian
Published: July 2026
The Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance’s Veterinary Capacity Program ensures a consistent, ongoing supply of rural and agricultural veterinarians who can support farming communities and monitor the health of livestock, as well as veterinarians with the skills and expertise to serve on the front line of disease surveillance.
When Jaqueline Stalker, DVM 2026, applied to the University of Guelph’s Ontario Veterinary College, she already knew she wanted to work with farm animals.
The mature student’s educational background was in music, and she didn’t grow up on a farm. After deciding to leave the world of music, Stalker dabbled in research, wildlife rehabilitation and worked with beef cows in Western Canada, coming to realize that the large animal path was meant for her.
During her studies, Stalker took advantage of the unique large animal opportunities available at OVC, like the eight-week externship focused on food animals, OVC’s Health Sciences Centre, externships and elective rotations, and benefited from VCP-supported faculty, staff and interns at Canada’s top veterinary school.
After four years of hands-on training—some of which she arranged to accommodate caring for her newborn baby—Stalker graduated and returned to her hometown of Listowel and a job with Heartland Animal Hospital; secured thanks to connections made during the externship.
After her final exam, Stalker shared highlights from her four-year journey at OVC, as well as her advice for future students.
What stands out from the DVM program with respect to your career goal of working with large animals?
At OVC, the Art of Veterinary Medicine program is excellent. We learned how to communicate, essentially. It starts with how to structure your appointments and expands each year to practice with actors. This is the most important thing about your job. You have to work with the client to be able to treat the animal.
The anatomy lab was really great. Getting that hands-on experience was so good.
Because I want to be able to do a little bit of horse stuff, I did a couple weeks with the internal medicine people in large animal medicine at the hospital, and they were really fantastic. They can do the best care for large animals, truly.
The Ontario Dairy Research Centre in Elora is an excellent operation with lots of cattle to learn from. If anything, I wish we could have spent more time there.
Fourth year is great because the food animal stream allows you to fill your schedule with external electives, which is going to people's clinics; going to work with food animal vets, like food animal general practitioners.
The externship is a wonderful time to get lots of experience and see if you really want to do it. It's two months at one place and it's at the beginning of fourth year.
What will a typical workday as a dairy cattle veterinarian entail?
As a new vet, I’ll be filling in for people. Senior vets would have herd health [the regular visits where a vet checks on the reproductive status of cows and responds to farmer-identified problems] and I’ll be on call for actual emergences.
What will be the biggest challenges?
As a new grad, you're going to need help. I'm probably going to do ride-alongs for a few weeks. There are usually a few people ready to go if there's an emergency.
As a large animal vet, you're going out on your own. In small animal medicine, there's other people around that can help. It can be super hard when you're by yourself, especially in the rural areas and up north where you're driving hours [to get somewhere].
There are a few things, as a new grad, that everyone really fears, like C-sections. It's also clinical decisions—trusting yourself, that this is what we should do. It's nice to be able to call someone and just run the case plan by them.
Is there anything that stands out to you as like a highlight of your journey at OVC?
Every year was better and better and better. Honestly, I think it was this year just doing calls by myself.
I had a vet with me, but my last day there was a prolapsed uterus. The vet said, “Do you want to do it”? So I did everything: the epidural, put it back, did the stitch. In those moments I'm learning so much, because a lot of this year is just me fumbling.
I think to third year when you're doing junior surgery and you're gaining the confidence during those labs, because I was so nervous to do them. And then to see the animal that I spayed was alive a month later and running around. It was kind of magical.
I loved working with my study group. We really supported each other, and it was lifelong friendships made.
What advice would you give to first-year students considering a similar path?
Say yes to opportunities. If you’re considering large animal medicine, do ride-alongs. Find vet clinics that will take you and let you come and ask questions. All day, just ask all the questions. Each vet is so different with their medicine and their perspectives, and each clinic culture is different.
I did the veterinary summer student internship program with the CFIA and the Veterinary Drugs Directorate. They let me do a four-day week and then on Friday I would do a ride-along. I kept doing hands-on stuff but also got to experience what it'd be like to work for the government. It was awesome.
While you’re in vet school is a great time to see what kind of jobs are out there.
You can make your life for yourself how you want it.
