Idaho’s vet shortage remains problematic

SALMON — Carl Lufkin’s ranch in Lemhi County raises seed stock angus cattle, meaning he uses a veterinarian about twice as much as the average ranch to help facilitate fertility needs in breeding.

But he can’t take his animals to just any veterinarian. Large animal veterinarians specialize in working with animals on ranches and farms. In a state where cows outnumber people, those veterinarians are in short supply, and federal regulations on beef and dairy have only increased the pressures on those who do work here.

An estimated 2.5 million cattle live in Idaho and are part of the state’s more than $12 billion beef and dairy industry. The state has another 235,000 head of sheep and lamb, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Those numbers don’t include the many other large animals being raised in the state.

All of those animals will need veterinary care at some point.

Idaho does not, however, have a veterinary school. That, paired with Idaho’s ag-centric economy, rural landscape, an aging veterinarian population and cost barriers to joining the profession, has put a spotlight on the state’s need to recruit and retain more veterinarians who are willing and able to work with large animals.

Idaho Reports visited Lufkin Cattle Company this summer to discuss the needs and demands of veterinary care on ranches. Large animal vets are often on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, should there be an emergency on a ranch. Usually, Lufkin said, he can get a veterinarian on-site in half an hour.

“But I’ve had instances when… they’re out of town for some various thing and you can’t get somebody, and I have loaded animals and hauled them to Idaho Falls, which is … a three-hour drive, basically, in the winter,” Lufkin said.

A three-hour wait for emergency vet care isn’t uncommon for other rural parts of the state, he said.

State veterinarian Dr. Scott Leibsle said ranchers have unique needs when seeking care for their animals.

“Some of the challenges that the livestock producers in Idaho livestock, producers anywhere in the United States, face are there are certain either tests or documents that can only be issued by an accredited and licensed veterinarian,” Leibsle said. “An example of that is a health certificate. So, if you’re participating in commerce, whether you’re a dairy or a beef operation, you have to have a certificate of veterinarian inspection, otherwise known as a health certificate, signed by a veterinarian, before those shipments of animals will leave the state. So only an accredited veterinarian can sign that.”

Common treatments like antibiotics or vaccinations must also come from a certified vet.

The number of active large animal veterinarians in Idaho isn’t easy to pin down.

While the Board of Veterinary Medicine has approximately 900 licensed veterinarians throughout the state, it doesn’t track specialties, Leibsle said. That total includes those who treat only small animals, exotic animals, government research veterinarians and industry professors. For example, when Leibsle moved from working as a large animal vet to a government employee, his license did not change.

Leibsle said he can make educated guesses about the number of active large animal vets based on brucellosis vaccinations distributed each year. The vaccination is mandatory in Idaho for female cattle.

“As cattle-centric as Idaho is, our livestock industry is, I know there’s roughly 425,000 brucellosis vaccinations given annually,” he said. “The Department of Agriculture monitors that, and 90% of those vaccinations that are given annually are done by about 50 vets. So that tells me that 50 veterinarians are providing a really big chunk of the cattle services that this state desperately needs.”

Cost of education

The cost of veterinary school is another barrier that many people face. Students often leave school with more than $200,000 of student debt, Leibsle said.

Large animal vets also can’t see as many patients in one day as a small animal vet could, because they generally drive to the patient.

“You only can see three, four, five appointments in a day,” Leibsle said. “Conversely, if you’re a small animal veterinarian, people bring their pets to you, and you can see 30 or 40 appointments a day. The earning power by definition of small animal vets compared to large animal vets is significantly different.”

Additionally, many of those vets are aging. Of the top 50 producing large animal vets, 16% are over the age of 60, and 10% are older than 70, according to Leibsle.

Idaho has a partnership with Washington State, guaranteeing 11 slots in the veterinary college for Idaho students. Typically, however, only about 10% of veterinary students want to be large animal vets.

The state is trying to address the shortage. In 2024, the Idaho Senate passed a resolution to encourage a partnership with Utah State University’s veterinary school, similar to what Idaho currently has with Washington State.

Mike Keckler, Legislative Affairs Officer with the State Board of Education, told Idaho Reports that Utah State University is willing to enter into an agreement, but legislators must determine the next steps in moving forward.

The state is also working on incentives through the USDA’s Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Plan to help with some of the cost.

If the recent graduate is willing to practice here and focus on a specific species that needs veterinary support for three years, they can get up to $75,000 for loans repayment.

“The number one economic (industry) in Idaho is the dairy business,” said Lufkin. “Number two is the beef business. Most people think we’re about potatoes, but dairy and beef are the two biggest economic drivers in the state of Idaho, and we need to feed the world. So, veterinarians are a critical part of two of the biggest economic drivers in the state of Idaho.”