Always searching for opportunities to expand and enhance its services, Four Star Veterinary Service (FSVS) has brought two new veterinarians on board. Lucas Buehler and Alexander Strauch will both be based out of FSVS’ Minton Veterinary Service clinic in Chickasaw, Ohio.
The addition of Buehler and Strauch brings the FSVS lineup to 25 veterinarians working from eight clinics located in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Iowa. Together they are licensed to work in 30 states, offering a wide range of services for clients involved with commercial swine, show pigs, cattle, poultry, sheep, goats, aquaculture and companion animals.
Lucas Buehler, from FSVS intern to full time
Lucas Buehler grew up on a farm in Shelby County Ohio where his parents ran a farrow-to-finish swine operation until 2002. To round out his experience, he also worked on his grandparents’ beef cattle operation, as well as at a local feed mill and a commercial swine finisher.
“I enjoyed showing animals in 4-H, but once I started working in commercial production I realized that’s where my passion lies,” Buehler said. That path led him to Ohio State University where he received both his animal science undergraduate degree and Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine. During that time, Buehler participated in research projects and shadowed numerous veterinarians, including an FSVS internship, to expand his knowledge as much as possible. Buehler graduated from veterinary school in May 2023 and joined Minton Veterinary Service full time.
“I hope my work will help make producers more productive and profitable,” he said. “It’s always a good day when we see our clients succeed and hit their goals.”
Alexander Strauch expands FSVS’s poultry services
Having grown up in metro Detroit, Alexander Strauch is a self-proclaimed “city kid turned rural chicken doctor.” It was during his undergraduate studies at Michigan State University that he became intrigued by the idea of becoming a veterinarian who works within the food chain.
“I wanted to learn where my food came from,” he said, “and as a veterinarian, I can be responsible for animal health, food safety and human nutrition at the same time.”
During college, Strauch worked on the line at a poultry slaughterhouse and later, while in veterinary school, conducted inspections for USDA. He received his Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from Michigan State in 2017 and went to work for a large commercial egg-production company in Michigan. In 2022, Strauch started a private poultry practice, he recently joined FSVS’ Minton Veterinary Service in May 2023.
He speaks Spanish, and his specialty areas include cage-free laying-hen production as well as free-range, pasture-raised and organic poultry production. “My brand of veterinary medicine is about animal health, employee education and data analysis,” Strauch added.
Among his many accolades, Strauch received the Young Livestock Veterinarian Award from Michigan State’s College of Veterinary Medicine in 2021. Committed to continuing education, he will complete his Master of Business Administration degree this December.