EUGENE, Ore. – Genie and Glenn Harden, owners of New World Farmstead, had a dying dairy goat. “I knew I needed a vet and tried to get a vet and I couldn’t get a vet,” Genie Harden said.

The goat succumbed to a parasite that was easily treatable if they had a veterinarian or more experience themselves.

“I went on the warpath to learn, learn, learn,” Genie Harden said.

Her frustration helped form the Small Ruminants Network about five years ago. The organization teaches rural Willamette Valley residents basic health skills and strategies for goats and sheep.

The Hardens still don’t have a veterinarian, nor does network member Marybeth Bullington of Elfin Acres Nigerian Dwarf Goats in Creswell, Ore.

“We just have a lot of need and not enough resources to take care of these animals,” Bullington said.

Bullington and Harden said they think the problem is worse for small ruminants, but they know they aren’t alone.

Ag vet numbers decreasing

A shortage of rural veterinarians means agricultural operations sometimes can’t obtain skilled medical help for animals. That’s led to the formation of grass roots groups and efforts to create mid-level practitioners for certain treatments.

The American Veterinary Medical Association detailed the problem in a November report, “Filling the rural veterinarian gap.”

In the past decade, the number of companion animal veterinarians rose 22% to 68,400.

Meanwhile, mixed animal and agricultural animal veterinarians decreased by 15%, to about 8,100.

Experts said solutions will take time and aren’t simple.

The shortage stems from a mix of factors that includes higher earnings for corporate and companion animal jobs, which generally pay about $133,000.

That compares to roughly $100,000 for mixed animal and equine vets.

Repaying huge student loans — the average debt was nearly $150,000 in 2023, according to the AVMA — essentially removes the option of accepting a lower paying job for many graduates, said Dori Borjesson, dean of Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

High demand but limited seating

Vet schools have tremendous demand but limited seating and can’t graduate enough students to meet the need.

Oregon State University had about 3,000 applicants for 90 open slots at the Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine this year, said Joe Klopfenstein, associate dean for student success.

Borjesson said WSU ‘s vet college accepts about 140 students per year out of 2,400 applicants. Roughly 25% of Washington applicants and 8% of non-residents are admitted.

“Trust me, I wish I could admit a lot more,” she added.

Vet schools can’t increase enrollment without new buildings, equipment and staffing, and that takes a lot of money.

“It’s expensive to educate veterinarians,” Borjesson said. WSU’s $26,000 in-state tuition doesn’t fully cover the cost of vet students’ education.

“We have to invest if we want to fix it,” she added.

The Washington Legislature overwhelmingly passed a bill this spring to create a task force and study what the state can do to promote rural veterinarians.

Borjesson was uncertain about the potential for increased state or federal funding given the economic climate.

Oregon House Bill 2167 sought to give OSU’s vet college $10 million, in part to address the rural veterinarian shortage, but that funding was stripped from the proposal. (The bill still could provide an additional $3.5 million for the Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at OSU.)

Attracting rural students

Nearly half of Beaver veterinary grads enter corporate jobs, sometimes working with just one large farm.

Roughly 40% of Beaver vet school grads enter rural practices.

“The problem is keeping them there,” Klopfenstein said.

Rural veterinarians often cover massive territories while always being on call.

“They literally work 24-7,” Borjesson said.

About 75% of OSU and 65% of WSU vet college applicants have urban backgrounds and that plays a huge role in where graduates work. People from urban settings gravitate toward cities, while country kids prefer rural areas as professionals.

“Schools need to do a better job of identifying and encouraging people from rural communities to become veterinarians,” Klopfenstein said.

That includes making paths easier with grants and loan repayment programs.

Some vet colleges, such as at Texas Tech University, get state funding to prioritize admission for rural students, Borjesson said.

Mid-level practitioners

Oregon’s House Bill 976 would create mid-level practitioners in the state, allowing lay people to perform pregnancy verifications in cattle. It also would create a task force to study the potential for non-veterinarians to do equine dentistry.

Mid-level practitioners are being established in Colorado, but most veterinary organizations oppose the program, which critics say will allow corporations to pay less for workers.

Klopfenstein cautioned against the step.

“That’s a short term solution. If we have more nonprofessionals performing these tasks, in the long term, there will be fewer vets available,” Klopfenstein said.

Building relationships with vets

Klopfenstein said it was sometimes challenging to make farmers understand that veterinary care protects investments and isn’t just an additional cost.

Melissa Fery, OSU small farms extension educator, said many small producers operate on tight margins and don’t think they can afford regular veterinary care.

Mike Guebert, Open Pasture Network program director, said the cost to buy new livestock can be cheap compared to veterinary care.

Sometimes problems are contagious, however, and whole herds are lost.

Bullington said many farmers exhaust their options before calling vets in a crisis.

Farmers said veterinarians won’t give advice or prescribe medicine without an established relationship, but those can be hard to keep.

The Hardens said that in two instances they hired a vet but those professionals took new jobs with noncompete clauses. They have refused to see the Hardens’ animals.

In emergencies, the Hardens and Bullington have rushed animals to veterinary care at OSU’s campus in Corvallis, Ore., about an hour away. That’s a short drive in some parts of the Pacific Northwest.

“Think about the people who are extremely rural. What are they going to do? We’re tying the hands of farmers,” Bullington said, as she hauled “mama” buckets of milk to feed baby goats.

Capital Press reporter Mateusz Perkowski, who covers the Oregon Legislature, contributed to this story.