Dr. Patrick McCue found the early
influences for his career from the
veterinarians who visited the
family business.
“I grew up on a family-operated dairy farm in northern New York State, and our lives revolved around farm chores and cattle,” said Dr. McCue, an Associate Professor in the Department of Clinical Sciences and a member of the Equine Reproduction Laboratory team. “Fortunately, my family also believed in the value of taking time to enjoy life, so I was immersed in sports, fishing, and other outdoor activities. The life values and work ethic developed in my early years have stayed with me to this day.”
Dr. McCue received a bachelor’s degree in biology at the State University of New York in Potsdam and subsequently entered graduate school in zoology/wildlife biology at the University of Montana. He worked for several years for a company that studied endangered species in California. Eventually he felt the draw to return to a career goal that he had as a child, that of becoming a veterinarian.
“We routinely had veterinarians on the family farm and they were a role model to me,” said Dr. McCue. “They provided a service that was valuable to livestock owners and the community, and I respected that.”
He was accepted into the University of
California, Davis, School of Veterinary
Medicine and graduated as a DVM in
1986. It was in veterinary school that he
fell in love with all aspects of equine
medicine and health care. He completed an internship at the University of Pennsylvania’s
New Bolton Center in order to
obtain further training in equine medicine
and surgery. Dr. McCue then pursued
advanced training in equine reproduction
during a residency at UC-Davis. He subsequently
received a PhD in comparative
pathology and joined the faculty at Colorado
State University in 1994.
“My initial position at CSU was as an equine ambulatory or field service clinician,” said Dr. McCue. “My specialty was still horse reproduction, but I developed a subspecialty in equine dentistry and was also involved with many aspects of general equine health care. My position was adjusted about 6 years ago and I have since been able to focus on equine reproduction almost exclusively. I coordinate a mare reproduction service, which includes breeding and foaling, and an embryo transfer program.”
Dr. McCue, in addition to being well known for his clinical work and research activities in equine reproduction, has also become renowned for his teaching skills, and has been called a “master teacher” by his colleagues. He is a recipient of the Carl J. Norden Distinguished Teacher Award and has twice received the American Association of Equine Practitioners Faculty Award for excellence in teaching. He brings an excitement to the classroom and clinic that is contagious to students and manages to turn almost every situation into a teaching opportunity for students and horse owners alike.
One of his favorite teaching techniques is to go to one of the dry-erase boards or laminated charts on horse reproduction scattered around the ERL or the James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital. He uses the charts and boards in an “impromptu lecture” to describe the particular clinical case at hand and to subsequently discuss the finer points of horse reproduction. He commands the attention of the horse owner and students with hastily drawn illustrations and lists of medical conditions and treatment options.His goal is to educate and he will use any clinical case or other opportunity to achieve that result. In his foaling class, a highlight each semester is the opportunity for every student to attend a live birth.
"Each group of students is assigned a pregnant mare and the objective is to be present when she foals,” said Dr. McCue. “Now, nature being what it is, that doesn’t always work out. Consequently, a back-up plan is to induce a mare’s labor in front of the entire class to make sure all students have a chance to witness the event.”
It is apparent that undergraduate, graduate and veterinary students all benefit greatly from the teaching and clinical programs at the Equine Reproduction Laboratory. They are able to have handson experiences that augment classroom lectures.
“We have had a very busy breeding season this year. The barns are always full, and we will breed several hundred mares with either fresh, cooled, or frozen semen, foal out 30 to 40 mares and perform 100 to 150 embryo transfers,” said Dr. McCue. “The embryo transfer program allows us to maintain a herd of recipient or surrogate mares which our veterinary students use to learn how to perform reproductive examinations, such as palpation and ultrasound. With our stallions, students learn how to manage live-cover matings and to collect semen for artificial insemination. These are skills that require hands-on experience to develop. Clinical cases provide real-life examples that may be difficult to reproduce or describe in a classroom setting.”
Dr. McCue noted that one of the most valuable aspects of the diverse activities at the Equine Reproduction Laboratory is that it provides a multitude of opportunities for teaching. The busy clinical service provides rich and diverse educational experiences for equine sciences and veterinary students alike.
“We also do an outstanding job of education in our short courses,” said Dr. McCue. “It is gratifying to have veterinarians, owners, and farm employees come to CSU to learn reproductive management of the mare and stallion, and to have fun in the hands-on learning environment. We are passionate about what we do at Colorado State University.”
