Community Highlights: Meet Dr. Racheal McKinney

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Racheal McKinney.

Hi Dr. McKinney, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Vince Lombardi once said, “The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.” Almost like it was yesterday, I can remember graduating from vet school at Western University. I was full of passion, motivation, and drive.

I was ready to move back home and start filling the shortage of mixed farm animal medicine. I had the desire to run a successful mobile mixed farm animal practice. I had the hopes that I could eventually hire support staff, and I had the dream that someday, I would get to a point where I could hire additional doctors and build the first truly mixed animal hospital in the area. Now, almost eight years later, through hard work, dedication, and determination, I can honestly say that I have applied the best of myself to this profession, the community, and to the task at hand.

My name is Racheal Michelle McKinney. I was born and raised in Arizona. Growing up, I was very involved in many organizations, including 4H and FFA, and I have owned just about every animal you can think of. These things have given me perspective and appreciation for the clients and patients I work with every day. I have spent almost my entire life caring for and treating alongside other veterinarians, my own pets and livestock, and my career and business for the past eight years. This has made me a better veterinarian with the tools and knowledge of the different disease risks, toxicology threats, and overall environmental influences that can affect my client’s pets.

I graduated from Western University in May of 2016, and on June 1st, I opened doors for my mobile mixed farm animal practice, Urban Livestock and Equine Veterinary Services. That day, I saw my first patient and met my first client, and from that moment on, I knew I was in the field I belonged in. When I graduated and started working, I don’t think I realized how much of a shortage there was for mixed animal veterinarians. It became very clear very quickly. The primary areas I cover include Maricopa County, Pinal County, and Yuma County.

For the first year of practice, I was the owner, manager, and doctor. At about that first anniversary, it became more abundantly clear that I alone could not continue to perform all the necessary duties required to operate the practice while being the only doctor and continuing to be booked daily. My husband had been in management for the prior seven years with an agribusiness company, and together, we decided it was time for him to join the family business and become our clinic’s practice manager. This is now our family business and we are 100% committed to this life we have chosen and hope to continue encouraging more and more people to go into this specific field of veterinary medicine.

Eight years later, we have grown significantly for a mixed animal family-owned clinic. We currently employ two veterinarians, three veterinary technicians, two receptionists, and two veterinary assistants. We offer house calls as well as in-clinic appointments for all the before-mentioned species. We provide routine services such as exams and vaccines as well as emergency and surgery appointments.

My day-to-day work schedule varies all the time. Some days are spent with producers and on production farms, while other days are spent in the homes and yards of families with hobby farms and pets. During our clinic days, you will often find me doing surgeries for dogs and cats or educating clients on care recommendations for their pet’s wellness visits. I have clients who raise their livestock with the end goal of entering that animal into the food supply, and I have clients who have designed bedrooms in their homes for their pet pot belly pigs.

In regard to daily species that I work with, you name it, and I probably see it. On any given day, we will see dogs, cats, horses, poultry, ratites, camelids, cervids, and lagomorphs. The only thing I don’t see is snakes!

We all face challenges, but would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Veterinary medicine comes with its challenges. Owning a private family-owned clinic is not an easy task. 80% of veterinary clinics in Arizona are corporate-owned. We take pride in being a smaller practice that genuinely cares about our clients, patients, and staff.

Providing a quality work-life balance for our employees is important to us, and being available for the people who need us when they need us is, too. Student debt is very scary after veterinary school.

Operating your own business means a lot of very long days and many hours. Being a wife and a mom of two young boys under the age of 3 also adds to the chaos. You want to be all the things for everyone, but there are only so many hours in the day.

I appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Urban Livestock and Equine Veterinary Services?
We are a family-owned and operated mixed animal practice that offers both mobile and in-clinic appointments for large and small animals. We want you, as an owner, to feel like you are part of our Urban Family and know that we care about your loved pets as if they were our own. For both large and small animals, we offer routine preventative care as well as medical, surgical, and emergency services.

The home base is in San Tan Valley, but we do house calls to Maricopa, Pinal, and Yuma County. Although our name implies that we only see large animals, our staff and doctors are skilled and educated to see all species. We provide many services to dogs, cats, bunnies, guinea pigs, and other pets as well!

Dr. McKinney loves pet pig medicine, dog and cat soft tissue surgery, and equine dentistry. Dr. Coriell absolutely loves ruminant medicine with a focus on cattle work. He enjoys small animal surgery as well.

We are a private, family-owned business, and we truly value building relationships with our clients and patients. We want long-term partnerships with them and focus on educating our clients in depth so that they understand what is recommended for their pets throughout their lives.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
I love the community and the support. I am sad that it is growing so fast and becoming bigger and bigger. With that comes many great perks, but I love the smaller-town community feel.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://urbanlivestockvet.com/
• Instagram: @urbanlivestockvet