Across the U.S., a shrinking 3.4% of aging veterinarians provide care for animals that we eat, like cattle, sheep and swine. That’s putting a strain on rural livestock regions and raising red flags for public health.
Wyoming is a prime example. The federal government has highlighted it has to address the veterinarian shortage to “ensure a safe food supply.”
The Wyoming Legislature tacked on $550,000 to its budget this year to hopefully offer a solution: help fund Wyoming students’ veterinarian education in trade for in-state work.
Other states, like Nebraska, Kansas and North Dakota, have already implemented similar incentive programs. That leaves Wyoming playing catch up, said Jenny Bloomquist, Wyoming Veterinary Medical Association executive director.
“So we don't have a choice to sit idle. We are competing for those same students,” said Bloomquist, who helped push through state funding for students this legislative session.
The decline is years in the making. Since World War II, the U.S. has lost about 90% of its “food animal” veterinarians, who oversee healthcare and regulatory checks on animals we eat.
“It truly is a food safety issue, because we're talking about the meat that we eat, we're talking about public health as well,” said Bloomquist, noting livestock disease outbreaks that are a risk to human health.
This year, a bison herd in Bondurant cleared its five-year bout of Brucellosis, according to WyoFile reporting. The bacterial infection, which causes chronic flu-like symptoms, can transfer to humans through direct contact and eating undercooked, infected meat.
In 2024, an anthrax cattle outbreak in Carbon County allegedly infected a rancher. The sometimes fatal disease is spread in similar ways to brucellosis.
Part of the firewall between outbreaks infecting the food we eat is veterinarians.
The federal government has identified 243 rural veterinary shortages in 46 states. That includes nine counties in Wyoming: Niobrara, Converse, Sublette, Albany, Park, Hot Springs, Laramie, Uinta and Sweetwater.
The feds are offering funding to help. For example, two Mississippi vet clinics received $125,000 grants in 2025 to help with equipment and travel costs to serve rural customers. There’s also a student loan repayment program that was briefly paused during the federal government funding freezes in 2025.
Regardless, Bloomquist said Wyoming needs to sweeten the pot.
“To support our young people in Wyoming and encourage them to come back and help make our state thrive,” she said.
Wyoming has historically suffered from brain drain; young, educated people are leaving the state. Additionally, the veterinarian workforce in Wyoming is aging.
“I get calls almost weekly from veterinarians who are maybe in their 70s, some even in their 80s, who are saying, ‘I need to retire, and I cannot find veterinarians to come to my area,’” Bloomquist said.
The newly passed $550,000 budget amendment she advocated for will target Wyoming youth who are susceptible to brain drain.
Since the new funding was just approved the details are being ironed out. Bloomquist said the intention is to pay for 85% of tuition out of state, since the University of Wyoming (UW) doesn’t have a vet school. She said universities like Kansas State and Utah State are key partners.
“They're really focused on the business of rural veterinary medicine, the culture of the small communities and practicing large animal medicine,” she said.
Graduates will likely be required to return to Wyoming and work for four years, primarily in large animal practice. The funding is part of Wyoming’s two-year budget, so language would have to be included in 2028 for the program to continue.
But, Bloomquist said she thinks this new program will target the large animal, rural veterinarian issue better than current incentives.
UW is a Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) school. Each year, around five students are selected and are offered in-state rates to go to vet school at one of three universities: Colorado State, Oregon State and Washington State.
Bloomquist highlighted three problems with WICHE. First, the veterinarian sector is the only one exempt from requiring graduates to return to Wyoming. Second, students are still paying the bulk of their tuition. Third, much of the schooling focuses on companion animals, like dogs and cats, not livestock. The latter is because that’s where the money is, said Bloomquist.
“In the old days, maybe we didn't pay for a lot of extra dental work or orthopedic work or cancer treatments on companion animals, and that trend has grown,” she said.
The average starting salary for a companion animal vet is around $140,000, with higher incomes found on the East and West coasts. For a food animal vet, there’s about a $40,000 drop in salary. That can be a sticking point when the average debt from vet school is upwards of $200,000.
“If you're a veterinary student who has spent this time and money and worked very hard and have this debt to service, that you probably are going to go where you get paid more,” Bloomquist said.
She added it takes a special kind of person to go into rural, large animal practice, as it’s both physical and mental.
“You're on-call and going out in the middle of the night. You are doing physical preg[nancy] checking,” she said. “It's a passion. They love ranching. They love their communities. They really want to make a difference.”
Bloomquist is confident the kind of people to fill those roles are found in Wyoming’s youth. They just need incentives to return.
