Across more than 500 U.S. counties in 46 states, commercial cattle producers are confronting a quiet crisis: there simply are not enough large-animal veterinarians to answer the call. According to estimates from USDA, 2025 marked one of the largest large-animal veterinary care shortages ever recorded, threatening both the financial solvency of cow-calf operations and the resilience of the nation’s livestock infrastructure.
Inside the historic Empire Theatre in downtown Livingston, Mont., beneath the glow of the marquee and flanked by the towering peaks of Montana’s Paradise Valley, the mood was both a celebration and an urgent call to action. Ranchers, veterinary students, academic leaders and allied industry professionals gathered for the exclusive big-screen premiere of the Zoetis documentary series, The Born of the Bond Series: Season 3 – Answering the Call.
While earlier seasons celebrated the working bond between animals and the people who care for them, Season 3 shifts its focus to one of the most pressing threats facing animal agriculture today: the rapid spread of “veterinary care deserts.” The premiere episode spotlights Stillwater Veterinary Clinic in Absarokee, Mont., detailing how an independent mixed-animal practice has evolved its business model, expanded mentorship, and recruited new associate talent to maintain critical service across an increasingly underserved territory.
“Across the country, livestock producers are feeling the strain of a growing shortage of veterinary care,” says Mike Lormore, DVM, MS, MBA, Zoetis director of cattle and pork technical services. “When producers don’t have reliable access to veterinary care, it’s not just the health of their animals at stake; it’s their ability to run a viable operation and keep a safe, quality food supply flowing to consumers.”
Inside the Desert: Stillwater Veterinary Clinic
Serving cow-calf ranches across a territory spanning nearly three counties, Stillwater Veterinary Clinic operates at the very frontlines of the shortage. As surrounding rural practices close, Stillwater’s veterinarians are forced to cover an ever-widening geography stretching eastward toward Yellowstone County and the Billings area.
“We have lots of clients spread out all over,” explains Stillwater partner Dr. Jesse Olsen. “Their families have been established here, and they’re still on that land for over 100 years… But right now, there’s a lot of producers in this area that are just having difficulty finding someone to answer the call. We’re in a veterinary desert because of the lack of veterinarians in the area.”
When emergencies arise, travel times can become severe. “Yellowstone County… you have to go two, three hours away before we get to the next established veterinary clinic,” Olsen notes. “There are some days where Lacey and I are hopping counties and waving at each other as we’re passing each other.”
For partner Dr. Lacey Fahrmeier, caring for commercial herds is both a personal and professional calling. Yet, the physical reality of rural practice exacts a heavy toll.
“You care about these animals so much when they suffer, or when we’re going through a drought, or we have a blizzard, and there are losses. It weighs on the humans that take care of them every day,” Fahrmeier shares.
In one of the documentary’s most memorable moments, Fahrmeier candidly describes the exhaustion of middle-of-the-night calving emergencies.
“I would definitely say the on-call is probably the most challenging aspect of the job for me, just because you’re out most of the night with calving emergencies doesn’t mean that you get any time off the next day to try to recuperate. You’ve got a full day of appointments ready. Maybe you just got home from an emergency and took a shower because you were covered in blood, and it was 10 degrees out while you’re doing this dystocia or putting in a uterine prolapse on some ranch, and then you just get into bed, and then you get another call,” she explains. “It just sucks. But duty calls, and it’s your night, and so you buck up and you go do what is needed to help the animals and the rancher who you serve.”
What Cattle Producers Can Do: 4 Key Takeaways
Following the premiere, a series of candid panel discussions brought together Fahrmeier and Olsen alongside academic leaders from Oklahoma State University (OSU) and Kansas State University (K-State). Together, they confronted the stark economic, physical and emotional realities of large-animal practice and outline tangible ways producers and practitioners can bridge the divide. While university curricula and federal loan repayment programs remain critical long-term tools, the panelists deliver four immediate steps commercial cattle producers can take to safeguard veterinary access in their home counties:
1. Support Your Vet in the Daylight to Protect Midnight Coverage
“We’ve got to support veterinarians during the daylight if we want to expect them to come out at night,” urges Dr. Rosslyn Biggs, DVM, OSU director of the center for rural veterinary medicine. “I’m not a very nice person at two in the morning. If we just met, that’s not the time to meet me. Sit down across the kitchen table, sit down at the clinic, and talk about what your goals as an operation are. If we implement preventative herd health protocols, you may be surprised at the number of emergencies that just go away.”
2. Eliminate the “While You’re Here, Doc” Scope Creep
Ranchers often mean well when asking a visiting veterinarian to look at two or three unscheduled head during a ranch visit. However, Fahrmeier cautions that unplanned add-ons disrupt the clinic’s operating schedule.
“Sometimes we almost need you guys to help save us from ourselves, because we have a hard time saying no,” Fahrmeier notes.
She explains that if an unscheduled procedure delays a veterinarian by 30 minutes, it pushes the next appointment back by 30 minutes, compromising respect for staff schedules and driving team burnout. Communicating add-ons in advance enables the clinic to plan realistic driving routes.
3. Extend Grace and Foster True Partnership
Ambulatory veterinary schedules are inherently unpredictable. Recognizing that a veterinarian running behind schedule is frequently managing an urgent crisis —such as being met by a dying calf at the clinic door before departing on ranch calls — builds essential mutual trust. Fahrmeier highlights long-time clients Steve and Amy Williams of Midland Bull Test, who attended the premiere. She recalls a day when Steve arrived for a scheduled bull soundness check, only to find Fahrmeier and [Stillwater associate veterinarian Dr. Kara] elbow-deep trying to correct a severe uterine torsion and dystocia on an emergency cow. Rather than walking away in frustration, Williams stepped into the chute room and helped the veterinarians roll the cow to deliver the calf safely.
4. Leverage Technology to Relieve Administrative Burdens
During the discussion, Amy Williams, a former registered nurse, suggests large-animal clinics explore staffing models used in human medicine — such as utilizing veterinary technicians or dedicated drivers during peak calving seasons so veterinarians can sleep or complete medical charts between calls. Dr. Todd Gunderson, DVM, MS, ACVPM, K-State clinical assistant professor and coordinator of the food animal veterinary certificate program, notes emerging technologies, including ambient AI scribes that listen to exam-room consultations to generate medical records for veterinarian sign-off, are already reducing after-hours charting.
Similarly, Fahrmeier notes non-urgent client emails, photos and video updates allow practitioners to triage and resolve minor cases during daytime pauses rather than facing a backlog of phone calls late at night.
Mitch Blanding, DVM, MS, Zoetis director of beef technical services, summarizes, “As we’ve seen through the conversations at this event, building the rural veterinary workforce requires collaboration among many groups. It won’t be solved in one single approach but through many solutions.”
Born of the Bond, Season 3 – Answering the Call, premieres Friday, Oct. 30 on the Zoetis Livestock YouTube channel. All episodes are also available to view at BornOfTheBond.com.
Watch for more articles on Drovers.com highlighting key takeaways from the panel discussions and how farmers, ranchers and communities can support production-animal veterinarians to provide much-needed care in so many rural communities.
