Missouri FFA Member Strives To Keep the Family Tradition Alive

Briar Montgomery treats a small dog with eye drops at his family’s local veterinary clinic.

For some people, the veterinary clinic is where you take your dog, cat or large animal whenever they aren’t feeling well. But for the Montgomery family, it’s a lot more than that. 

Briar Montgomery, a sophomore at Brookfield High School in Missouri, is a proud farmer and member of the Brookfield FFA Chapter. He works at his family-owned and operated business, Montgomery Veterinary Clinic, where he assists his father, Ryan, as a veterinarian’s assistant.

Montgomery’s Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) includes applying vaccines, treating ear tags, processing cattle through chutes and completing various other tasks around the clinic. He says it’s a neat opportunity to assist his father at the clinic, especially since he wants to fill his father’s shoes and become a veterinarian someday. 

Filling the Shoes

“I notice not everyone gets the opportunity to gather the experiences I can here at the clinic,” Montgomery says. “That’s one reason why I love working here.”

Montgomery’s mother, Valerie, also advocates for agriculture. She is a retired agricultural education teacher in Missouri. His brothers, Brett and Baylor, were also national finalists in the veterinary science-placement agricultural proficiency award category in recent years. 

Another Brookfield FFA member, Lanie Hill, is a family friend and works at Montgomery Veterinary Clinic. “It’s cool seeing the business grow as a whole and to watch the younger generations fill in the shoes of the ones before them,” she said.

Missouri FFA is proud of Montgomery’s hard work and dedication toward his SAE.