OK Dept. of Agriculture looking into veterinarian shortage

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) - There’s a veterinarian shortage in Oklahoma, specifically those that deal with large farm animals. The state Department of Agriculture called it a significant challenge, but they have started efforts to address it.

"Oklahoma is definitely an agriculture state,” the Department of Agriculture’s deputy commissioner said. “We're a livestock state. So, this is this is a challenge that we know can have very long term effects for our industry."

Rowlett knows what lies ahead for the agency as they look into why there’s a veterinarian shortage in the Sooner State and how to fix it.

"Definitely a challenge, but one that we think we've got all the right minds to help help solve,” she said.

According to Rowlett, they’ve seen a lot of retirement in the area and not a lot of new young vets are jumping into the field of dealing with larger animals.

"The nature of the work isn't necessarily what all new veterinarians are interested in willing to do,” Rowlett said. “There's work life balance and lots of other things that come into play."

Rowlett said it’s a problem they’ve felt coming around the corner. To see how they can fix it, they’ve partnered with the Farm Journal Foundation. Their plan right now is to collect data from every part of the industry.

"Just working with all the stakeholders from the industry to currently practicing veterinarians to institutions in the state that prepare that workforce from vets to other support staff to just kind of measure get us get a baseline,” she said.

It’s still early in the process of gathering information. However, Rowlett said getting young vets back in the field will be key to the future.

"We need to continue to keep livestock healthy and keep our producers productive and profitable across the state,” she said.

They plan to collect the data until October. That’s when the Farm Journal Foundation plans to review it. From there, they hope to start formulating a plan.