Pillen announces effort to attract farm animal vets to Nebraska

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Gov. Jim Pillen announced a new effort Monday to bring in and keep farm animal veterinarians.

Nebraska has plenty of cows, but the governor said it’s in short supply of vets.

“We’re running into an extraordinary shortage of food animal practitioners across the state,” Pillen said.

To combat this problem, Pillen, a veterinarian himself, is working with the University of Nebraska to recruit and retain vets.

A select group of students will be given $150,000 to cover the eight-year livestock veterinarian program.

In exchange, the students will have to work in Nebraska for eight years after graduating.

“This program is really going to help the dairy industry, as well as the rest of animal agriculture,” said Kris Bousquet, director of the Nebraska State Dairy Association.

While a similar program called the Elite 11 Veterinarian Program already exists at UNL, this new program will be open to out-of-state students as well.