Amanda Aker comes to VVI with a lot of experience.

Amanda was born and raised on a dairy farm in central New York State. She earned a bachelor’s degree from SUNY Cobleskill in Dairy Science, and spent several years as a herdsman before attending veterinary school at the University of Illinois.

During her vet school tenure, Amanda did multiple internships including respiratory disease research, spending a summer at Select Sires headquarters in Ohio, learning OPU in Oregon, and attending Wisconsin’s Dairy Production Management Rotation; a six-week course designed to teach herd based approaches to cattle health and production.

After graduating in 2020, Amanda joined a small mixed animal practice in south-eastern South Dakota, and worked predominantly with dairy and beef cattle. She joins us to follow her passions in the dairy industry, including reproductive technologies, genetics and calf health.

Amanda has two travel-loving cats, Kitty and Muffin, as well as a small herd of Ayreshire cattle that reside on the family farm. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, running and baking.