State/Territory
Texas
Shortage Location - Must Serve
Childress, Collingsworth, Hall, Cottle, and Hardeman Counties
Shortage Location - May Serve
Foard and Motley Counties
Location Center
Childress, TX 79201
VSGP Status
Open
VMLRP Status
(Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program)
Open
Priority of shortage
High
Fiscal year
Percent FTE
(Full Time Equivalent, based on a 40hr work week.)
30
Type of Shortage
(Veterinary Practice Area / Discipline / Specialty)
Type II Shortage: Private Practice – Rural Area Food Animal Medicine
Must serve
(minimum 50% of time)
Beef Cattle
Small Ruminant
May serve
All agricultural and food supply animals
Nominator Name
Lewis Dinges
Nominator Title
State Veterinarian
Nominator Org
Texas Animal Health Commission
Nominator Email
Nominator Phone
512-719-0715
Importance/Objectives of Veterinarian
In these even counties, there are roughly 3,500 producers on around 2,000 farms, totaling more than 3 million acres of farmland. On these 2,000 farms, there are 128,000+ head of cattle, 1,500 sheep and lambs, 1,700 horses and ponies, and 550 goats. There are also multiple ranches in this area who raise whitetail, mule deer, and exotic species for hunting purposes, and four approved feral swine facilities. There are currently only two veterinarians performing regular large animal work in this area, meaning there is a veterinarian to cattle ratio of 1 to 64,000. Collingsworth, Hall, Cottle, Hardeman, Foard, and Motley Counties currently have zero livestock veterinarians. With so much land and so many animals, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the few veterinarians in the area to meet the needs of the 3,500 producers. With Hardeman, Childress, and Collingsworth Counties being on the Texas-Oklahoma border, veterinary services are critical in ensuring that only healthy livestock and equine cross state lines. Because this is a very remote area of Texas and Oklahoma, there are minimal animal check stations on these roads compared to other border counties in the state, making veterinary inspections all the more important. Tens of thousands of food animal travel between Texas and Oklahoma farms and feedlots, and without active veterinary oversight, there is real risk of potential emerging and foreign animal diseases crossing the border.
Veterinarian Medical Activities & Services
A veterinarian in this shortage area would be expected to work with producers on herd health management, including developing and maintaining herd health plans, monitoring signs of disease, grazing pasture rotation, creating control plans to prevent infections in herds, issuing health certificates for intrastate and interstate feeder livestock, treating diarrhea in calves, and proper nutrition and supplementation. Being a major beef cattle production area, a veterinarian here would also need to assist with all aspects of reproduction, including effective bull/male selection, trichomoniasis testing, emergency calls for calving complications, artificial insemination, embryo transfers, semen evaluations, pregnancy checking, male breeding soundness exams, castration and heifer spaying, c-sections, prolapsed uteruses, evaluating penis and testicle injuries in bulls, and offering best practices for weening calves.
Veterinarians would also need to provide services for horses in this area that are used for cowboying and rodeoing. This would involve assisting with lameness issues, general consultations, EIA testing, artificial insemination, embryo transfers, managing high risk pregnancies and mare foaling, and castration.
Veterinarians should also be willing and able to work with local 4-H and FFA groups. This includes evaluating sheep, goats, pigs, poultry, and beef and dairy show calves, educating students on care, treatment, nutrition, and husbandry of livestock, as well as issuing CVIs for stock shows and transferring ownership.
Education to the public on zoonotic diseases and preventing their spread is also a critical role played by veterinarians in this service area.
Historical Efforts of Recruiting/Retaining a Veterinarian
The biggest issue with recruitment in this area is that the rural clinics cannot compete with corporations and metropolitan clinics who offer significant signing bonuses, $150,000+ salaries, 4-day work weeks, and no emergency calls. Efforts have been made to attend veterinary job fairs and conferences, but these traditional recruitment efforts have been unsuccessful. Clinics in this shortage situation have attempted to offer higher salaries, but the long work hours, emergency call rotations, and intensive work have made recruitment difficult. Recruitments efforts in this area have been shifted toward working with the newly established Texas Tech University SVM. With the first class set to graduate Spring 2025, a loan repayment program would be the best recruitment and retainment tool at our disposal.
Consequences of Not Securing/Retaining a Veterinarian
This area is quickly approaching a critical veterinary shortage. Livestock production is a vital aspect of the economy in these rural counties, and limited access to veterinary care greatly jeopardizes the health of food animals. Beyond the producers themselves, many residents in this area work in the many feedlots in the Texas panhandle, and any decrease in livestock production results in less opportunity for these workers. On top of the economic importance of veterinary services, the large beef cattle industry here contributes greatly to the overall food supply in Texas, the US, and beyond. If veterinary services are not increased in this area soon, there will be a certain disruption to our food supply. According to Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations data, livestock contributes ~40% of total agricultural output in developed countries and ~20% in developing ones, supporting the livelihoods of at least 1.3 billion people worldwide and providing ~34% of global food protein. Current projections show that global demand for meat will increase by +15% over the next ten years and global consumption of milk and dairy products will increase by about 25% by 2027.
Veterinary shortages also pose an important public health concern. Food animal veterinarians are vital for disease surveillance and control—especially in zoonotic diseases. Childress County, for example, dealt with a significant increase in rabies cases this year. Because there is a veterinarian in this county, livestock producers, local FFA/4H groups, and other clients were notified about rabies vaccinating their livestock. The bordering counties in this shortage situation, however, have no food animal veterinarians and are unable to maintain regular communication and outreach to their counties’ producers.
The veterinary shortage in this area is creating socio-economic problems for producers, weakening overall food animal health, decreasing potential for catching foreign animal disease outbreaks, and may ultimately threaten the overall safety of our food supply.
Community Aspects
This area lies in the heart of the Texas rolling plains and has many great small towns that feel like home. In Childress County, Fair Park has an auditorium and a newly constructed, state-of-the-art event center which hosts events throughout the year. There is a public pool, playgrounds, hiking and biking trails, fishing, and a fully equipped RV campground. There’s an ATV park with maintained red dirt off road trails and track, a golf course, dozens of restaurants, and seventeen churches that participate in the community year-round.
This area is within ~100 miles of Copper Breaks State Park and Caprock Canyons State Park and within ~200 miles of the scenic Palo Duro Canyon State Park and the Black Kettle National Grassland in Oklahoma.
The Childress Regional Medical Center is a full-service, long-term hospital that serves individuals from all over the Texas panhandle. They offer mammograms, ultrasounds, CT scans, and MRI’s, as well as provide hospice care, speech, respiratory, and physical therapies, childbirth classes, and many types of surgeries.
There are many yearly rodeo events. Childress Old Settlers Rodeo includes calf and steer riding, calf roping, and mutton busting. The Mashburn Event Center and Rodeo also holds events throughout the year, including equine shows, trade shows, concerts, and weddings. In 2024, it held the Story Vest Memorial Calf Roping, which includes the top fifty calf ropers in the world, the Summertide Jr. Championship, and the Lone Star Steer Ropers Association roping event.
Being a rural area, the cost of living here is relatively cheaper than other areas of Texas. There are many affordable renting options as well, with many landlords offering discounts for long-term tenants. Along with reasonable utility rates, this an attractive area for new veterinarians looking for a quality place to live.
Page last updated: February 9, 2026