Agriculture is a part of all our lives. When you eat, put on clothes, or care for an animal--your life is touched by agriculture. Colorado's food and agriculture industry generated $47 billion of economic activity in 2019 and supports nearly 5% of the state's workforce. CDA is proud to be a part of such an important industry.

Mission:

The CDA's mission is to strengthen and advance Colorado's agriculture; promote a safe and high-quality food supply; protect consumers; and foster responsible stewardship of the environment.

CDA Wildly Important Goals:

To accomplish our mission, CDA focuses on four “wildly important goals:”

• Goal 1: Advancing Local Food Access

• Goal 2: Expanding Water-Resilient Agriculture

• Goal 3: Supporting the Next Generation in Agriculture

• Goal 4: Advancing Animal Health and Welfare

We use these goals to focus and align the daily work of our staff in support of Colorado farmers and ranchers. Learn more about our Department and our wildly important goals in our performance plan on our website.

• Strong, secure, yet flexible retirement benefits including aPERA Defined Benefit Plan or PERA Defined Contribution Plan plus optional 401(k) and 457 plans (www.copera.org)
• Medical and dental health plans (https://stateofcoloradobenefits.com/)
• Employer supplemented Health Savings Account ($60 per month)
• Paid life insurance, plus additional optional life insurance options
• Paid Short Term Disability and optional Long Term Disability coverage
• 11 paid holidays per year plus generous vacation and sick leave accruals
• BenefitHub state employee discount program
• Employee Wellness program State of Health
• Excellent work-life programs, such as flexible schedules, remote work opportunities, free parking, professional development and more!

To learn about the total compensation package for State government employment visit: https://www.colorado.gov/dhr/totalcompensation

The Animal Industry Division exists to detect, diagnose, control and prevent infectious and contagious diseases of livestock and other food animals, prevent and investigate cruelty, mistreatment and neglect of animals, regulate animal by-products to consumers and assist agricultural industries, local governments and the general public in the control of rodents and predators, assess and collect from alternative livestock producers or captive wildlife facilities a fee for licensing and maintain appropriate regulations for animal health and disease control, provide for traceability of livestock locations, livestock, and livestock movements, and license aquaculture facilities and liaison with Colorado Parks and Wildlife in its regulation

Major Objectives of the Position

This position will provide professional veterinary expertise in the field of disease diagnosis, epidemiology, and disease prevention which is necessary to prevent, control, or eradicate livestock diseases in a given area of the state. This field position is dedicated to the Western Slope of Colorado but will occasionally cover needs in other areas of the state. Position will investigate suspect and positive disease reports and communicate disease issues with livestock producers, veterinarians, livestock markets, and slaughter plants. Position works in a collaborative effort with division staff, USDA, and other state/federal agencies/entities to support foreign animal disease prevention, emerging disease identification, and emergency management activities. Position works to mitigate foreign animal disease, emerging diseases. And all hazard emergencies. Position will work with veterinarians, producers, and extension agents to educate these individuals on the implementation of animal identification systems. Position monitors compliance with livestock disease control rules and animal health standards. Position imposes quarantines on affected herds and specified disease control measures necessary to assure freedom from disease. Position visits and interviews all newly licensed practicing veterinarians on the Western Slope to provide orientation regarding animal disease control programs and Colorado livestock disease control laws and regulations. This position will also be involved in education and the transfer of animal health information to producers, veterinarians, Extension agents, and the public. Collaborates with private and university veterinary practitioners to plan and conduct meetings with ranchers and farmers on animal disease control issues. In addition, this position will support the Bureau of Animal Protection program by providing veterinary subject matter expertise. This position requires a driver’s license for the extensive travel demand throughout the Western Slope and occasionally to other areas of the State.Other duties may be assigned based on the Department's needs such as: providing support to PACFA and the DAW, and involvement with animal emergency incidents; This position travels as needed throughout the state for field investigations and assessments and outreach and education events.

Primary Duties

Disease Control and Education:

Brief Duty Description:

• Be available as a resource for veterinary practitioners and livestock owners to answer questions and provide access to resources and contacts for information about diseases, conditions and regulatory issues.
• Investigates suspect and positive disease reports by communicating with the state veterinarian, USDA-APHIS federal animal health officials, slaughter plants, diagnostic laboratories, pathologists, epidemiologists, livestock market managers, practicing veterinarians, and livestock producers.
• Investigation includes:
  • livestock market inspection, slaughter plant inspection, reading reports,
  • communicating with and conducting interviews with livestock producers involved,
  • reporting to epidemiologists, setting up additional surveillance testing,
  • collecting additional samples, performing necropsies, submitting samples and information to the diagnostic laboratories,
  • implementing quarantines on premises and individual animals, monitoring quarantine compliance of producers,
  • overseeing cleaning and disinfection of the premises, follow-up inspections,
  • recommending release of quarantine when appropriate, and evaluation of the entire epidemiological process.
• Collects surveillance samples to monitor for the prevalence of certain state-federal program diseases such as Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), Scrapie, or other state program diseases such as bovine trichomoniasis and Brucella ovis as dictated by state and federal regulations.
• As a field veterinarian travel is required. Area served is primarily on the Western Slope of Colorado from Wyoming to New Mexico along the Utah border. Will occasionally be required to cover field activities in other areas of the state, including attending meetings, conferences, and training in the main office in Broomfield or other remote locations. Some overnight travel may be required.

Foreign and Reportable Animal Disease Investigations:

Brief Duty Description:

• Responds and investigates reports of potential Foreign Animal and reportable Diseases under the direction of the State Veterinarian and USDA Area Veterinarian in Charge
• Follows protocols for sample collections and submission. Has a clear communication plan for possible quarantine, disease control, and biosecurity.
• Travel to producers and livestock facilities.

Animal Disease Traceability:

Brief Duty Description:

• Encourage and train veterinary practitioners, extension agents, and livestock producers to accurately maintain records in accordance with the Animal Disease Traceability program.
• Encourage livestock markets to capture animal ID electronically and assist markets with data management and traceability efforts.
• Disseminates pertinent information to livestock owners, market operators and private veterinarians to clarify state and federal regulations and to assist them in adopting electronic technology to accomplish this task.
• Implement and train veterinarians to electronically capture animal ID information required for Interstate Certificates of Veterinary Inspections.
• Monitor and enforce CVls on animals imported into Colorado while promoting the use of electronic CVls, including the VET-CVI, for animals exported from Colorado.
• Travel to producers and livestock facilities

Education and Outreach:

Brief Duty Description:

• Accept, listen and respond to informational calls, texts or emails from the public concerning disease, animal care and regulations. Educates and trains veterinary practitioners, extension agents, and livestock producers to increase their knowledge about
• livestock disease control and eradication programs, techniques, and Animal Disease Traceability requirements / activities. This may be accomplished through on-site training, classroom training or training in a town hall meeting forum. Training may be accomplished one on one or in groups of two or more.
• Position will require driving to farms, ranches, universities, laboratories or other venues for training purposes.
• Visits and interviews all newly licensed practicing veterinarians in a given area to provide orientation regarding animal health, disease control programs, and Colorado’s livestock disease control laws and regulations.
• Orientation procedures and information provided will depend on the qualifications and experience of the individual being trained. Regularly visits veterinary practitioners in a designated area of the state to discuss livestock disease programs, prevalence and unusual disease occurrences in that area.
• Positions will develop their own training materials or may use previously developed training materials.
• Travel to producers and livestock facilities

Other duties as assigned:

Brief Duty Description:

• Rule enforcement: initial contact, education, and, if need be, disciplinary actions involving veterinarians, businesses, or individuals violating state or federal livestock rules and regulations.
• Division of Animal Welfare: while unlikely, you may be required to respond in animal welfare cases as a subject matter expert or to assist in seizure and transportation of animals from an investigation. You may be required to assist law enforcement with initial investigations and may have to testify in court cases regarding civil or criminal charges involving the Division.
• Committees: serve on committees within the Division and/or Department of Agriculture in forming policy, rule or requirement changes, etc.
• Interagency assistance: serve as an animal health subject matter expert in multi-agency responses or investigations.

• A doctorate degree in veterinary medicine, a current veterinarian license, and current USDA Type II accreditation.
• A current Active Veterinarian License in good standing with no restrictions must be included with application materials.

• Three years’ experience mixed animal veterinarian practice.
• Technical skills and previous experience in veterinary computer software programs and databases.
• Fluency and/or high level of proficiency in a second language such as Spanish.
• Knowledge and experience in varied practice sectors, including food animals, small ruminants, equine, companion animals, and knowledge of poultry and exotic animals such as psittacine birds, reptiles, fish and other domestic mammals.

• Must maintain a current Veterinarian License in good standing with no restrictions
• Must possess and maintain a valid Colorado Driver's License with the ability to independently travel
• Ability to operate a vehicle with a trailer attachment.

• Ability to work with animal carcasses
• Clear understanding of veterinary practice and disease control in livestock
• Ability to work with Law Enforcement
• Excellent interpersonal, communication and public speaking skills.
• Project management skills: ability to multitask, problem-solve, prioritize, create systems and processes and collaborate with and engage others.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and juggle multiple priorities, and able to react and adjust quickly to changing conditions.
• Detail oriented.
• Ability to write detail-oriented reports based on analysis.
• Excellent communication skills; able to communicate effectively and articulately in writing and orally with diverse communities in all corners of the state.
• Work well under pressure.
• Strong relationship management skills and excellent representation of the department in community interactions.
• A proven track record for developing and maintaining trusted relationships with stakeholders and industry experts.
• Excellent negotiation and consensus building skills.
• Proactive approaches to problem-solving and with strong decision-making capability.
• Highly resourceful team-player, with the ability to also be extremely effective independently.

• Online application (completed fully) describing how you meet the minimum qualifications
• OR If you are not able to submit an online application, a paper application is available at this link: PDF State Paper Application. Paper applications must be received (either by US mail or email to mary.hunt@state.co.us by the closing date and time of the application period listed on this announcement.
• DD214 (if applicable)
• Unofficial copy of transcripts (if applicable)

• Technical Competence – Technical experience as it relates to the duties outlined in this job announcement.
• Depth and Breadth of Experience – Experience that covers multiple areas outlined in this job announcement. Experience should be varied and not one dimensional and demonstrate a wide range of community involvement.
• Job Fit – Experience will be evaluated to determine how well your past experience aligns with and meets the business needs of this position. Current experience is preferred.