I recall six bovine practitioners visiting during the calving (60 head) and lambing seasons (200 head) in the '80s. Jon Cooper, 81, had one of the largest sheep herds in the county then. He recalls 14 farm vets servicing the Pennsylvania/New York Twin Tiers adjoining Tioga County. I spoke with Cooper at 97-year-old dairyman Gordon Wood’s funeral on April 7, 2025. Every one of those vets likely honed their cattle skills working with the Pennsylvania Holstein Association Hall of Fame, 12-time District, five-time State Show Premier Breeder and his Gor-Wood-D Holstein cow lineages. It’s a shame new vets missed the era of working with generational herds like Gordon’s.
After Doc Murphy passed, the days of having a veterinarian a few miles away disappeared. Seanna Brown from Liberty, Pennsylvania, picked up our farm. On a good day, she might be 20 miles away. But most days, she was another county over and scheduling a visit might be a week out. Doc Brown recently retired after 34 years of large-animal practice. Now we have Doc Reese out of Pine City, New York, who is 82 and still practicing after 54 years – because folks here need an experienced vet.
Cow-calf skills in demand: Many cattle breeders raise concerns that new veterinarians haven’t acquired the hands-on "cow sense" beef cattle owners (55 years old) are used to. University in-clinic experiences are just not enough to prepare vets for temperamental, tenacious cows and their pasture brood dynamics. The majority of the USDA’s estimated 121 million acres of state-side pastureland are here in the East. If plans are to expand the 655,000 regional (six-state) beef herd to better utilize these acres – we need experienced beef-breed graduates.
Are veterinary schools beefing up their hands-on curriculums?
Veterinary school beef herds: I was rather surprised at how little information is available on the ratio of cow numbers to students for the 40 veterinary school programs. Cornell’s website mentions 600 head of dairy cattle at the Ruminant Center. Where’s the beef? With 100,000 head in the 2022 New York Ag Census, will Cornell bring back the beef herd in this cycle of expansion? Mississippi (No. 26) promotes a 200-head cow herd at their Leveck Animal Research Center. Colorado (No. 20) has around 500 head of beef cattle on 860 acres of irrigated pastures. Florida’s (No. 4) Beef Research Unit has 1,200 acres available to 350 head Angus-Brahman. Arizona (No. 34) has 350 head Hereford and Brahma-Hereford crosses. Idaho has room for 80 Charolais and their veterinary students participate in Washington’s (No. 23) degree program.
Are vet students required to spend time sorting and separating cow-calf pairs?
Who's got time to mentor an intern? Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, launched an internship program for its veterinary students to work with category II veterinarians servicing south-central New Jersey. Just six vets care for most of the state’s 30,000 head of beef and dairy cattle. There are probably seven dozen equine practitioners in the state but only 10 food animal practitioners – who also provide care for 30,000 head of sheep and goats.
No time to spare, no dime to share: Since 2020, New Jersey’s legislature has proposed its own large animal veterinary loan redemption program. According to the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program 2010 to 2022 Program Summary, New Jersey had 25 nominations for the program, 12 applicants and three awards. The current year "Shortage Region NJ252" for contiguous counties in southern New Jersey includes Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem. “There is a critical lack of food animal veterinarians in this area due to retirements and nonreplacement of veterinarians that have historically served food animal clients.”
National snapshot: According to the 2023 Occupational Employment and Wages report, an estimated 78,200 veterinarians were employed in the United States. North Dakota, South Dakota, New Mexico and West Virginia are leading the shortages. California (7,690), Texas (5,660), Florida (5,030), New York (3,420) and Pennsylvania (3,100) have the most vets.
Type I veterinary shortages: Every state except Nevada, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut has identified a significant shortage. The National Institute of Food and Agriculture Veterinary Shortage Situation Types and Program Coverage Summary report of 2023 identified 32 of 250 shortages filled by full-time bovine veterinarians in five states; 198 were filled by part-time vets in 26 states. In 2022, 32 Type I shortages were filled in 11 states.
Closer to home: There were 44,000 head of cattle and calves and 4,000 sheep here in the 1987 Ag Census. Those 14 vets saw 350 to 450 dairy producers, 550 to 650 feedlot producers and six large ewe producers (100 to 400 head). There were another 230 dairies and 150 grain-fed cattle operations in Bradford and Potter counties. That’s about 5,000 head per veterinarian. With a national beef herd inventory under 30 million head, Tioga County’s cattle inventory has dropped 50% since 1987. And we are down to two large-animal vets. Steuben County, New York, is in dire straits with 60,000 head of cattle and just two large-animal veterinarians.
Veterinary wear and tear: According to the USDA, 31 large animal accredited veterinarians practice in a 50-mile radius of Wellsboro, Pennsylvania. Bradford County has 43,000 head of cattle and six accredited veterinarians. Broome and Chemung counties (New York) have 18,000 head and eight accredited vets. Potter County has 14,000 head and three accredited veterinarians. Lycoming County has 10,000 head of cattle and 10 accredited veterinarians – mostly associated with equine clients.
With a combined 80,000 head of cattle, these spread-out farms are putting a lot of miles on these vets' trucks and working hours – or they are not getting proper veterinary care. It’s no surprise these counties have repeatedly been nominated for the national loan repayment program. The "JPANY252" or "NY251" must-serve designations are for Tioga and Potter counties, Pennsylvania; and Steuben and Allegany counties, New York.
What is rather surprising is that none of these counties are spending advertising dollars to attract skilled veterinarians to set up practice here. Yet every chamber of commerce, agritourism board and agriculture organization recites the economic driver of their rural livestock communities.
We need access to veterinary medical supplies. By the time the "unrefrigerated" mail-order shots get here, the "follow the directions" window-to-treat has expired. Where do the underserved and nonserved cattle producers go to get veterinary certificates and rapid response to an emerging disease outbreak? Maybe we could legislatively create and call a 24-hour emergency hotline to the State Veterinary Medicine Association for a telescript? Who doesn’t have their cows' photo ID on their phone?
