18 Nebraska Cattleman October 2023 A A D W Experts Reflect on the Shortage of Large Animal Veterinarians in Nebraska By Jessica Wesson , Contributing Writer Before being interviewed for this story, June Loseke, a large animal veterinarian, got up before dawn to start working. She started her day taking care of thousands of feeder cattle in the dark before the heat of the day could set in. Then she and her husband, also a large animal veterinarian, traveled to their private practice to spay a dog, neuter another dog, enucleate the eye of a cat and complete two rumenotomies on a couple of steers. That was all before noon. This is just a sneak peek into the average day’s work for large animal veterinarians, and it is routine for them. Loseke has been a veterinarian for nearly 30 years, and she has seen a decline in large animal veterinarians. “It’s not a sexy job. It’s blood and manure, and it’s what we do every day,” Loseke says. “I easily work 80 hours per week. It’s not something everyone wants to do for a living.” In 2022, there were 78,717 U.S. veterinarians employed in the clinical sector of veterinary medicine, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). Their study found that only 3.9 percent of those veterinarians were in food animal practice and only 4.1 percent were in equine practice. By contrast, 67.2 percent of veterinarians are in companion animal practice. Roger Dudley, DVM, Nebraska state veterinarian for the Nebraska Department of Agriculture, says the shortage is affecting how ranchers conduct business. “It’s becoming more of a challenge to find large animal veterinarians, especially in the rural parts of Nebraska,” Dudley says. “That translates into higher costs for producers. The vet has to drive farther to get to the ranch, or the producers have to haul their animals farther to get them to the vet’s office.” Scott McVey, DVM, Ph.D., is a professor and the director of the School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University of NebraskaLincoln. He works with the next generation of veterinarians, and he explains that the number of large animal veterinarians is declining for several reasons. CONTINUED ON PAGE 20
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