When a commercial cow-calf producer looks at a local veterinary clinic, they often see an indispensable safety net — someone who will answer the phone at 2 a.m. in a blizzard when a heifer is calving. But behind that phone call lies a mounting structural tension that is reshaping rural veterinary medicine across the U.S.
In the premiere of season 3 of Zoetis’ documentary series, “Born of the Bond — Answering the Call,” the spotlight fell on Stillwater Veterinary Clinic in Absarokee, Mont. While the film laid bare the creeping threat of large-animal veterinary deserts, the panel discussions in Livingston, Mont., dug into an even deeper question: What will it actually take to make rural large-animal practice a sustainable, lifelong career for the next generation?
The answers shared by practice owners and university educators point toward three critical pillars: resolving the emergency on-call paradox, scaling debt-relief pipelines and modernizing traditional practice culture.
1. The Emergency Call Paradox
At the heart of rural veterinary retention lies a sharp conflict between producer demand and doctor survival.
Dr. Todd Gunderson, DVM, MS, ACVPM, K-State clinical assistant professor and coordinator of the food animal veterinary certificate program, points to the landmark 2010 Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA) study on veterinary attrition. Its conclusion was clear: after-hours emergency duty is the single greatest factor driving veterinarians out of rural practice.
“The No. 1 reason, is the emergency burden,” Gunderson stresses. “The lack of ability to separate yourself from your work is crushing to you. And even if you can get over it, it’s really hard on families. It’s really hard on your spouse, on your kids.”
Yet, producers view emergency availability as the cornerstone of veterinary service. Gunderson shares data from a recent study conducted with the Mississippi Cattlemen’s Association, where producers were asked what aspect of their veterinary relationship they valued most: access to emergency services, preventative herd health or access to pharmaceuticals.
An overwhelming 80% of producers selected emergency services.
“We’ve got a real conflict there between what producers want from their veterinarians and what veterinarians are able to provide,” Gunderson summarizes. “You just can’t be on call every day of your life.”
The Multi-Doctor Solution
Resolving this retention bottleneck requires moving away from the isolated, single-practitioner model. Gunderson cites research led by K-State graduate researcher Caroline Wingert evaluating factors linked with success in rural veterinary medicine. The findings reveal career longevity — defined as remaining in the same rural practice for five years or more — and a clinic’s recruitment success are strongly associated with practice size and having a multi-veterinarian team.
Gunderson notes in clinical practice, shifting from a two-way emergency rotation to a three-way split makes an immense difference in quality of life.
Stillwater Veterinary Clinic illustrates this firsthand by recruiting Dr. Kara Marchant straight out of veterinary school. In the film, Marchant describes the early shock of clinical responsibility: “The first few months of being a vet, it’s really hard. I don’t think anything could have prepared me for that. Just the mental load and the amount of responsibility. It definitely hits you like a hard punch to the gut.”
Mentorship from senior partners Dr. Jesse Olsen and Dr. Lacey Fahrmeier provides stability. When an owner snapped over an adverse clinical outcome, Olsen stepped in.
“Jesse talked to me and was like, ‘Hey, you did the right things. People are tough, but you’re tougher,’” Marchant recalls. “If it wasn’t for that conversation, I honestly don’t think I’d still be here.”
Adding Marchant expanded Stillwater’s roster, allowing the clinic to distribute emergency call three ways and restore breathing room.
“Just the addition of one more veterinarian in the practice made a big difference for the entire team,” Fahrmeier notes.
2. Erasing the Educational Debt Penalty
Before a clinic can expand its roster, it must convince debt-burdened graduates to bypass lucrative, predictable small-animal positions in metropolitan centers.
“None of us enter this profession without significant debt,” Olsen says. “When we get out of vet school and get out into the real world, the cost of that education kind of hits us in the face. People don’t do this to become rich.”
Both Olsen and Fahrmeier credit loan assistance programs with making their rural careers possible. Olsen highlights the USDA’s Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP), which provides loan repayment assistance in exchange for service in federally designated shortage situations. Olsen, who serves on peer-review panels for the program, encourages producers and clinics to take an active role.
“It definitely provided some staying power, provided me a chance to get some breathing room, pay down some interest, and build up some savings to be able to partner into the practice,” Olsen says. “I would encourage any practices, any producers out there trying to recruit veterinarians to start discussions with your state animal health official and try to build a nomination for a shortage area that can be practically and successfully applied to.”
Proven State Models
State-level initiatives are demonstrating structured financial backing creates lasting workforce stability. Gunderson points to the Veterinary Training Program for Rural Kansas (VTPRK):
- 108 students have entered the program to date.
- 95% of graduates have fulfilled or are fulfilling their practice commitment in a rural county.
- 86% of graduates who finished their initial four-year obligation remain in a rural qualifying county.
- 92% of that group continues to work in Kansas.
In Oklahoma, Dr. Rosslyn Biggs, DVM, Oklahoma State University (OSU) director of the Center for Rural Veterinary Medicine, highlights a state-funded $1.2 million loan repayment program that assists nearly every qualifying student committed to food-animal practice, along with a recent $300 million state legislative investment for a new veterinary teaching hospital at OSU.
Biggs stresses early outreach and mentorship are critical, but rural clinics must also offer modern, competitive packages.
“I see mixed-animal practices that are stepping up to the table in very, very rural areas, giving highly competitive, if not as competitive compensation packages as their corporate counterparts, because they know that’s the competition at the end of the day,” Biggs says.
3. Cultural Evolution: Meeting a New Workforce
Sustaining the veterinary pipeline requires confronting a demographic reality: more than 80% of graduates exiting U.S. veterinary colleges are women. Traditional expectations of 80-hour workweeks with zero personal margin are incompatible with recruiting the modern workforce.
“Most of my female students want to have a family; they want to have a career that will integrate with their desire to also be moms and spouses,” Gunderson explains. “In Caroline’s study, maternity leave is a big deal for veterinarians — and not just for women. Gender did not matter in that statistical model; it matters to people across the board. We need to find ways to normalize having a family and having a job.”
Some forward-thinking practices are taking direct action, including providing designated on-site childcare options for clinic staff.
For practice owners, retaining new talent begins with an honest cultural appraisal. Olsen challenges rural clinics to look inward before listing an open position.
“Before you ever put the ad for employment out, take a look at your practice, take a look at your culture, and take a look at your team,” Olsen stresses. “Answer some honest questions: Is that a practice that you would want to start in? There’s a lot of new veterinarians that want to work in rural practices, but they don’t want to sell themselves and suffer for a career. They don’t want to do that for their families or their mental health.”
The Takeaway for Beef Producers
For ranchers, the survival of rural veterinary practices requires viewing the local clinic not merely as an on-demand emergency service, but as an economic entity that requires community partnership.
By supporting state and federal shortage nominations, backing veterinary loan repayment initiatives and respecting the operational boundaries that allow multi-doctor practices to thrive, cow-calf operators can help ensure that young veterinarians don’t just take a job in rural America — they build a life there.
“Born of the Bond – Answering the Call” is available on the Zoetis Livestock YouTube channel and BornOfTheBond.com.
