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Bethany Animal Hospital in Sycamore received the Allied Industry Partnership Award this year. The Allied Industry Partnership Award recognizes companies affiliated with the pork industry that have worked in partnership with the Illinois Pork Producers Association to provide programs and services for the benefit of members.
Bethany Animal Hospital is a strong supporter of IPPA and the pork industry. As a company, it has been active in supporting many aspects of the association.
Bethany Animal Hospital began when Russell Schelkopf purchased the local veterinary practice in Sycamore in 1959. This mixed animal practice was primarily focused on large animals, catering to the agricultural area in the north-central Illinois.
In 1978, Russell Schelkopf passed the business on to his oldest son, Michael Schelkopf and Deborah Valentine Schelkopf. Both Michael and Deborah were recent graduates of the University of Illinois. Three years later, upon his graduation from the University of Illinois, Michael’s brother, Charles Schelkopf, joined the practice.
Through continued growth, the clinic has developed into an eight-veterinarian practice split into two divisions, Companion Animal and Swine Health Services. Currently, four veterinarians operate the Bethany Swine Health Services division – Michael and Charles Schelkopf (co-owners), Steven Feuerbach and Noel Garbes. Together, the four vets bring more than 85 years of swine production, veterinary and consulting experience. A support staff of 10 members is essential to BSHS and assists the veterinarians in completing a number of tasks on a daily basis.
BSHS provides not only veterinary health services, but also farm management, benchmarking, nutritional and consulting services. The large animal doctors of BSHS have taken a leadership role in the pork industry to keep their producers as competitive as possible.
To this end, in 1997 they formed the first of five sow centers, which have been created to assist their clients in obtaining a high quality, cost effective, consistent flow of pigs on their farms while removing the high labor and costly breeding and gestation portion of swine production.
Bethany Swine Health Services currently manages five commercial sow herds (2,400-2,800 head per unit) and one commercial gilt breeding/gestation company. This includes managing the day-to-day activities, pig flows, employees and herd health. BSHS provides veterinary consulting services for these units and for a full-service boar stud, amounting to more than 35,000 sows and approximately 1 million market hogs annually.
Bethany supports the pork industry and IPPA through financial support of programs, as well as providing volunteers and leaders for pork producer activities. Several of its employees have dedicated a substantial amount of time for the betterment of the industry.
They have supported the pork production auction at the Illinois Pork Expo, which has helped IPPA in generating much needed non-checkoff revenue to help the association work on legislative issues important to pork producers and the pork industry.
Mike Schelkopf has attended the IPPA Legislative Day at the State Capitol on several occasions and spoke to legislators about the importance of the Illinois pork industry. Employees have also assisted at the Pork Patio during the Illinois State Fair.
Due to their proximity to urban areas, educating their neighbors and consumers is an important part of their duties to the community and their clients. Carrie Pollard, technical services manager for Bethany, is the top Operation Main Street presenter in Illinois and ranks fourth in the U.S. She has given 44 presentations to groups predominantly in the Rockford area, such as a women’s club, Breakfast Rotary and Stephenson County Board, and in April will speak to the Illinois State Vet Medical Society.
Pollard’s service has helped Illinois maintain its lead as the top state in the country for OMS presentations and has helped educate hundreds of people about the pork industry, according to a recent news release.
Mike Woltmann, geneticist and general manager of Illini Swine, the genetics supplier to Bethany’s sow centers, was a volunteer at the first FarmFest educational event, held at a local farm in 2007. Woltmann, Pollard and Amanda Erlenbach also volunteered at the FarmFest event in October 2008. This event gives inner-city Chicago students a firsthand look at pork production.
Bethany Animal Hospital has also been a key supporter of the Northern Illinois Swine Reproduction Conference. This conference has drawn hundreds of producers and employees to help them improve their reproduction efficiencies.
Also in 2008, pork producers involved in the six-farm cooperatives managed by Bethany Animal Hospital together donated more than 2,100 pounds of pork to the Pork Power campaign.
Bethany Animal Hospital has dedicated its practice to providing high quality veterinary care and production management to swine producers. It is also dedicated to improving the pork industry through support of the Illinois Pork Producers Association. This includes both financial contributions, as well as involvement in pork producer activities.