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Veterinarian wanted to stay in agricultureALMA, Neb. (AP)--By the time Jeremy VanBoening took a 2 p.m., break, the Alma veterinarian already had spent about seven hours at a nearby dairy and still had a full afternoon of appointments scheduled. He hoped to finish work by 6 p.m., completing a fairly typical day at his Republican Valley Animal Center in Alma. The 32-year-old Blue Hill native said he knew what the workload and hours would be before he even started the pre-veterinary medicine program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He finished his education at Kansas State University, graduating from the veterinary medicine program in 2002 with a specialty in large animals. He and his wife, Erin, purchased Republican Valley Animal Center four years ago. Erin, a Lincoln native, is a veterinarian specializing in small animals. They're expecting their first child in September. "I decided in high school that I wanted to be a large-animal veterinarian," VanBoening said. "I knew there wasn't enough room to go back to the farm, but I wanted to stay in agriculture." A two-vet family works well, especially when the hours are long or he's called out in the middle of the night. "Being a vet herself, Erin understands maybe more than other wives would," VanBoening said. On this day, he'd been at work since 6:40 a.m. and had spent the morning at a dairy using the clinic's ultrasound equipment to pregnancy check cows. VanBoening said more veterinarians are using technologies such as ultrasound to help make diagnosis. His afternoon clinic appointments included castrating a 1-year-old horse, fertility testing bulls, tending to sick horses and verifying for an insurance company the cause of death for a cow found drowned in a creek. Most cattle, especially registered cattle, are insured for drowning and lightning, VanBoening explained, but insurance claims must be verified by a veterinarian. Typically, about half of his time is spent making "house calls" to farms, ranches and feedlots, and the other half is spent at the clinic. "It's easier and quicker if they can bring the animals to the clinic," he said, "but that isn't always possible." He estimated that there currently is a 4 percent to 5 percent shortage in veterinarians, caused more by a decrease in vets than an increase in animals. "Retirement takes a lot of vets away from the profession," VanBoening said, "but a lot of vets are taking government or other jobs for better pay, less work and easier work, where they aren't on call all the time. He said most veterinarians leave school with debts of about $80,000. If they've had to pay out-of-state tuition to attend veterinary school, the total can be up to $160,000, he said. VanBoening said attempts are being made in several states to pass legislation designating rural areas as being underserved by veterinarians. "The shortage will multiply every year unless the federal government steps up and treats veterinary doctor programs like they have done with rural medical doctor shortages to encourage young people to go back and serve in rural areas," he said. "A vet is on the front line for detecting food-borne diseases, and if there aren't enough vets in rural areas, an outbreak could go several days before it's detected and investigated." Date: 7/5/07 Advertisement
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