Several hundred Charles Sturt University (CSU) staff and students, along with a mob of sheep and horses, will mark 10 years of veterinary science education at CSU in Wagga Wagga with a parade down Agriculture Avenue on Friday 9 May.

The parade will officially open the new 1.3-kilometre stretch of road which has undergone a $500 000 upgrade.

"The upgraded Agriculture Avenue is just one of the things being celebrated in 2014," Head of the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences at CSU in Wagga Wagga, Professor Nick Sangster said.

"This year marks our 10^th student intake in the veterinary science program at Charles Sturt University.

"In response to a shortage of veterinarians in rural and regional Australia, Charles Sturt University accepted its first veterinary science students into the six year double degree in 2005.

"Our graduates are very well regarded for their knowledge and skills, and each year we receive hundreds of applications for the 60 positions available.

 "We have organised this event as Agriculture Avenue provides an important link between our animal, equine and veterinary science teaching and research facilities, the Charles Sturt University Farm and Equine Centre."

The upgrade of Agriculture Avenue from Pine Gully Road to the entrance of the Riverina Regional Equestrian Centre involved earthworks, bitumen resurfacing and the construction of a dedicated pedestrian and animal pathway, and a cycle way.

Veterinary science statistics:

-       The first veterinary science students started at CSU in Wagga Wagga in 2005

-       They graduated from CSU in 2010

-       174 veterinary science students have so far graduated from CSU

-       99 per cent of the veterinary science graduates have taken their first job in rural practice

-       3 of the first graduates now own veterinary practices, including a husband and wife team

-       Some of the graduates are working with Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory, the United Kingdom and the United States