Objectives The model for training professionals in animal husbandry and veterinary medicine in higher vocational colleges was proposed by focusing on the needs of building a skill-based society. Methods The animal husbandry and veterinary medicine major of Zhoukou Vocational and Technical College was used to analyze the challenges faced by the higher vocational colleges in training professionals. The methods of training skilled talents were mined by combining the teaching characteristics of major with the direction of training talents. A novel model of the collaborative dual-cycle education through colleges-enterprises partnerships was established by adopting advanced concepts of education and further improving the cooperation mechanism between colleges and enterprises. Results The shift from theory teaching to skill-oriented teaching was achieved and the bottleneck of training professionals in the building of a skill-oriented society was figured out through deepening the reform of the curriculum system and establishing the model of training professionals with the collaborative dual-cycle education through colleges-enterprises partnerships. Conclusions The training of professionals in animal husbandry and veterinary medicine in higher vocational colleges should focus on the requirements of professionals in a skill-oriented society, and accurately align the curriculum standards with the job standards of enterprises, which is more conducive to training professionals with high-quality in society and enterprises.