John Dedwylder
I am committed to helping owners understand options in caring for their pet.
Dr. John Dedwylder graduated from Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine in 1987. He strongly believes that an informed pet owner will be better able to provide for their pets. Therefore, he is committed to helping owners understand options in caring for their pet, such as customized vaccination protocols, medical treatments, and diets. Since starting his own practice in 1990, he has practiced progressive small animal medicine and surgery. John has been married to his wife Michal for over 30 years. They have a daughter Katie who is married to Cy and a new grandson, Crue. We also have an “adopted” Latvian daughter, Katrina. Included in his family are two Chihuahuas, Lucy and Zoey, a Heeler mix named Gunner, and a Lewellen setter Belle, who recently took second at national field trial puppy competition and a longhorn steer named Buckwheat. Dr. Dedwylder has been hunting in Shackelford county since 1990. He and his family have owned property south of Albany since 2006. They moved to Albany in 2014 and are active members at Matthews Memorial Presbyterian Church. His interests include wildlife conservation, native Texas landscaping, with a special interest in wild turkey, quail and whitetail deer habitats.
Brad R. Lindsey, PhD
Director of Bovine Reproductive Services
Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics (1982)
Masters of Agriculture in Animal Science (1984)
both from Texas A&M University.
Doctorate in Animal Science (1998) – University of Nebraska
In 1984 he helped start & manage the former Granada Corporation’s Equine Services Division. In 1988, he transferred to their Bovine Embryo Transfer Division and managed their main production lab and helped to develop & commercialize IVF technology in cattle. In 1992, he was hired by Trans Ova Genetics in Sioux Center, Iowa, to start their IVF service division.
In 1994, Brad began his PhD with Dr. Jim Kinder at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His research focus was endocrine regulation of reproductive hormones in beef cattle. In 1997, he went to Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia to pursue post-doctoral research at the former Tropical Beef Centre with Dr. Michael D’Occhio.
Upon returning to the USA in 1998, he was hired as General Manager of Stroud Veterinary Embryo Services in Weatherford, TX, under the direction of Dr. Brad Stroud.
Between 2000-2005, Brad worked for AB Technology (now ABT360), Minitube of America and Genetic Resources Int’l (now, Sexing Technologies), in various technical roles, directing research, product development and developing IVF lab service platform.
Later in 2005, he started Rex Consulting, providing ET services & technical support to cattle producers, biotech companies, & other ET firms and in 2008, incorporated as Ovitra Biotechnology, Inc. Ovitra continues to provides commercial & contract ET services, technical support, consulting & training to beef & dairy producers, research universities & other domestic & international ET firms, such as Cutting Edge Genetics, Advanced Genetic Services, Flying Cow Genetics, Roscoe Edu-Vet Repro. Services, Univ. of Illinois and Frank Phillips College.
Dr. Lindsey is an active member of the American Embryo Transfer Association (Board of Directors, Certification & Research committees), International Embryo Technology Society (Health & Safety Advisory Committee, Manuals & Forms sub-committee) and the Texas Southwest Cattle Raisers Association (Research & Education committee). He and his wife, Mary, live in Midway, TX and are active in their church and community. They have two grown children (Grace Richardson, married, and Payton Lindsey), both graduates of Stephen F. Austin State University.
Wendy Riley, LVT
Wendy is our skilled and compassionate Licensed Veterinary Technician. Wendy is homegrown right here in Sweetwater. Wendy attended Midland College and after graduation in 2000 she moved to Abilene to work in a mixed animal practice for 6 years. While in Abilene, Wendy met her husband Del and son Jesse. Shortly after getting married, Wendy found an opportunity to work at a Zoo in Fort Drum, NY where her husband was stationed for the Army. She was dedicated to her position and was promoted to head of the Education Department and helped organize and put on several fundraisers for the zoo as well. Wendy was also in charge of the husbandry and care of several different animals at the zoo. Wendy started work with us at Edu-Vet in July of 2019. Wendy’s love and compassion for animals shine through when she is able to educate and share her knowledge with our clients and students.
Wendy finds happiness in helping others. She is an avid volunteer for the community. She has held the position of Advancement Chairperson while her son was in Boy Scouts, she belongs to Friends of the VFW, Sweetwater Jaycees Roosters and is on the board of the Sweetwater Jaycee Roosters along with the City of Sweetwater.
Wendy’s family has had many different types of animals as pets from as small as tarantulas to as big as horses through the years. Wendy currently has several furry family Members dog Tessa and cats MJ, Jingles and Luci. She also has a hedgehog named Rudy.
Melissa Eckhardt, CVT
Melissa is a CVT (Credentialed Veterinary Technician) from Colorado. She moved to Texas in 2019 with her daughter. Melissa holds 3 degrees in Natural Resources, Outdoor Leadership & Recreation Technologies and Veterinary Technologies. Melissa spent a large amount of time teaching her love for outdoor education skills: Rock/Ice Climbing, Wilderness Survival, Wild & Edible Plants, Wildlife Habitat Management & Identification. She then spent 5 years working for Colorado Parks & Wildlife before going back to college for her passion of animals and proudly earning her CVT.
Her past times in Colorado included rock climbing, ice climbing & caving adventures. She grew up in a very outdoor friendly family where they were always outside at the lake, camping, riding ATVS or hunting. She loves to go the racetrack. Melissa enjoys coaching Archery with her daughter who also participates in band, drama, volleyball, track & tennis.
Melissa fur family includes 7 cats; Storm, Dixie, Rusty, Jasmine, Sunshine, Dolly & Hershey along with 4 dogs; Diesel, Hank, Reba & Hemi and lastly 2 Guinea Pigs; Scooter & Mo.
Sara Huerta
Sara is our Bovine Reproductive Services (BRS) Embryologist. Sara’s husband and her are both natives to west Texas where they share their house with their one dog Beau. She is very familiar with our program here at Roscoe as she graduated from Roscoe Collegiate High School in 2012. Before starting at BRS, Sara worked for First Financial bank as their receptionist. While being a receptionist she handled everything from billing, loan paperwork, and office organization.
She has been with BRS since 2019 and has been developing her skills and knowledge in bovine reproduction ever since. Here at BRS, Sara handles the office side of the business, overseeing embryo and semen storage, and most importantly the embryo lab. Being our embryologist, she manages embryo collections by handling all laboratory-related procedures such as embryo & oocytes searching, sorting, grading, and loading.
Most of Sara’s enjoyment comes from her very large family who she spends a lot of her time with.
Jacob W. Calloway M.Agr.
Jacob received his B.S. in Animal Science (2015) from Tarleton State University, and his M.Agr. in Animal Science with an emphasis in Reproduction (2017) from Texas A&M University.
Jacob is married to wonderful wife Mari and has two dogs and their own herd of cattle. He was raised in Weatherford, Tx on his parent’s ranch where they raise pure-bred Brangus cattle and focus on the development of replacement bulls and heifers. This is where he first gained his enthusiasm for the cattle industry.
In 2015 he started his career in Bovine reproduction by working for OvaGenix, under Dr. Charles Looney, in College Station, Tx while in graduate school. In correlation as an internship, he assisted in managing the donor ranch division where they were responsible for all donor, recipient, and AI cattle management and procedures. Jacob completed his Master’s degree in 2017 under Dr. David Forrest, Dr. Charles Looney, and Dr. Dan Posey. His research focus was on super-ovulatory success as it compares to fixed-time AI versus estrus detection AI in beef cattle. Between 2018-2020, Jacob was in law enforcement and worked for Brazos County Sheriff’s Office in Bryan, Tx as an Intake/Release Officer. While as an officer, he worked part-time for Ovitra Biotechnologies under Dr. Brad Lindsey as his lab embryologist. In 2020, Jacob’s wife and him moved to Sweetwater, Tx and started working as a Feed Sales Manager before accepting the position as Bovine Reproductive Services General Manager in September of 2021.
Jacob has been volunteering every summer at Camp El Tesoro De La Vida which is a week-long grief camp for kids who have lost a loved one since 2011. Here, kids are provided grief counseling and can enjoy summer camp with other kids their own age who are going through the same thing as them.
Jacob’s life has always been surrounded by cattle reproduction and he can never see himself stepping away from such an innovative and evolving industry.