Wyoming In Dire Need Of Large-Animal Veterinarians

In Wyoming, cattle outnumber people more than two to one, but the number of veterinarians treating food animals has plunged by almost 90% in the U.S. since World War II. Today, only about 5% of new veterinarians are choosing large-animal work nationwide, and a retirement cliff is looming in Wyoming. “If you’re looking at the western part of the state, we’ve got one veterinarian retiring in Big Piney,” said Jenny Bloomquist, executive director of the Wyoming Veterinary Medical Association. “There are some in the Powell area. Definitely, there are pockets.”

Veterinarian Lance Berry, who operates a robust practice in Wheatland, said he receives desperate calls from ranchers far outside his service area at least once or twice every week. “They’re begging for a vet to come and do something,” he said. “And I just can’t be that far away. I’ve still got to support my everyday clients. The juice just isn’t worth the squeeze on our end.” He estimated that during calving season, the calls increase.

Why don’t young vets want the job? Berry noted that classmates who stayed in the Kansas City area work four days a week, take no emergency calls, and make twice his salary. Small-animal care has become far more lucrative because families treat pets as “fur babies” and are willing to spend heavily. Becoming a veterinarian costs around $250,000 on top of an undergraduate degree. “Are you going to choose a position that maybe pays $90,000, or go to rural veterinary medicine that maybe pays $60,000?” Bloomquist said. The average salary for a veterinarian in Wyoming is a little over $81,000; nationally, it is nearly $104,000.

Wyoming is exploring multiple strategies to compete, including state support to send five students to Kansas State University’s rural veterinary program. The students will have opportunities to work with mixed practices in rural areas, so they can see what it is like before they graduate. Nationally, there are efforts to create repayment programs for vets who focus on food animals.

Bloomquist warned against cutting corners, such as Colorado’s 18-month online course for a “veterinary practice assistant.” She noted that the American Veterinary Medical Association does not support that, and it would not be covered by liability insurance. She supports licensed veterinary technicians, who take a national exam and receive extensive in-person training. Wyoming is one of only eight states without licensed veterinary techs, and efforts to pass such legislation have failed.

Pregnancy checks are a vital part of establishing connections between producers and veterinarians, Bloomquist said. “It’s how a veterinarian establishes that relationship, gets on the ranch to monitor herd health. They can detect diseases, mineral deficiencies, different things.” Allowing lay people to perform pregnancy checks, which the Wyoming Legislature’s Agriculture Committee is considering, would cut off that vital connection. “That’s dangerous when we’re looking at the food supply,” she said. “People forget that we’re producing food, and the veterinarian has a very important role in keeping our food supply safe.”

Nationally, at least 46 states face critical shortages of food-animal vets. Merck Animal Health Director Justin Welsh said, “Forty years ago, if you had 10 vets in an area, there’s now one.” He noted that corporate practices offer high pay and work-life balance without emergency calls, making it hard for rural areas to compete. “It’s hard to tell someone from an inner city, ‘Hey, if you go to the middle of nowhere you’re going to be a big part of the community,’” he said. But without solutions, the safety of the nation’s food supply is at risk.