Career Summary

Large Animal Veterinarian

A larger animal vet is a person who is a licensed animal health professional who are trained to
diagnose and treat illnesses that affect livestock species. They commonly treat horses, cattle,
sheep, goats, and pigs. Large animal veterinarians tend to make farm calls, which is when they
go to visit their patients. They use a customized truck that is supplied with the necessary medical
equipment. A routine for a large animal vet includes conducting health exams, giving
vaccinations, drawing blood, prescribing medications, cleaning and suturing wounds, monitoring
the reproductive health of breeding stock, performing artificial inseminations, assisting with
problems during birth, and conducting pre-purchase exams. Large veterinarians work long hours
and spend a large amount of time on the road since they travel from farm to farm. Veterinarians
can be also on call for some potential emergencies on weekend or holidays. Being a large animal
vet can be demanding for them because they must be able to restrain and treat animals of
substantial sizes. They also need to take safety precautions while treating their patients.

To become a vet, you must have completed high school or have a GED. Veterinarians must also
go onto completing a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree which can be at any accredited
college of veterinary medicine. This generally can take 4 years to complete and this also includes
classroom, laboratory, and clinical components. You do not need to have a bachelors degree but
most applicants have one. You are required to take many science classes, including biology.
Chemistry, anatomy, physiology, zoology, microbiology, and animal science. They might also
require you to take math, humanities, and social science courses. You must all be licensed in
order to practice in the United States. These requirements can vary by state. Most states you must
complete an accredited veterinary program and then you need to pass the North American
Veterinary Licensing Examination. You must take the exam in each state that you want to be
licensed in. After that then you can go onto a specialty which can last up to 4 years. The
requirements vary because of the different specialties.

A median wage for veterinarians is approximately $87,590 in 2014. The earning reported ranged
from $52,530 to some of the top tenth vets who earned more than $157,390. The average starting
salary large animal vets who began their career with a mean compensation of $71,096 which was
for a food animal exclusive practice. Then it was $67,338 for food animal predominant practices.
If a vet is certified in a specialty are like ophthalmology, oncology, surgery, etc. will generally
earn higher salaries because they have advanced education and experience as well. In 2015 the
AVMA data said that there were 561 board certified large animal internal medicine diplomats.
Also there were 307 board certified large animal veterinary surgeons. According to the Bureau of
Labor Statistics employment of veterinarians is supposed to grow 9% from 2014 to 2024. They
say that it will be faster than the average for all the occupations. There will be a very strong
competition for available positions.