Thought this was interesting. ISU grad here in rural Minnesota (just north of Iowa in Faribault Co.) is offering to give his building, equipment and pickup away to any vet that will take it. Country was already in a federal program that offers to pay up to $150K in college debt to anyone willing to come and stay for six years. No luck with that. Doc has a freshman at MN interested but our alumni doc is already 74.
ISU vet offers to give away his business to attract new vet
- Thread starter BoxsterCy
- Start date
What an incredible, generous, caring offer. You'd think there would be a "herd" of Vets vying for the free setup. Anyone?
Incredibly generous offer. Hopefully an ISU grad lands there.
The article goes into generally why the new grads are passing on it even with loan forgiveness of $150,000. Seems everybody and their brother has a pet dog or cat so lots of demand for pet docs in the urban areas with regular 8-5 hours. Not unique to animal docs, small towns everywhere are having trouble attracting MD's.
Fairbault isn't a bad spot at all.
Northfield (nearby) is a gorgeous town.
Hour to pro sports?
Not bad at all.
Northfield (nearby) is a gorgeous town.
Hour to pro sports?
Not bad at all.
well that depends on what the value of the building is, and the value of his client list.
This is one of those offers that sounds like it's a great deal but in the end maybe isn't as good as you could get elsewhere.
I am guessing the cash American value of the offer isn't really that much considering the setting although him offering it is cool. Maybe a good starter kit for someone who wanted to be there anyway. I think it's a shame this guy hasn't retired yet, I am a big proponent and preach the gospel of retirement at any opportunity.
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As a point of emphasis, the subject business is the Makotah Veterinary Center in Blue Earth, Faribault County, MN. It's located at 1001 E. 7th St., Blue Earth.
It's not located in the town of Faribault and Northfield is not nearby (as was stated in post #7).
Free Veterinary Center
It's not located in the town of Faribault and Northfield is not nearby (as was stated in post #7).
Free Veterinary Center
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Faribault County is a long ways from Faribault in many ways. I find it surprising a county with strong ag does not have other vet options, but southern Minnesota is all about crops and little for livestock.
Its kind of like those news stories you hear about small towns in the middle of nowhere offering free land if you build a house there.
Sure, you get the land. But that land isnt worth much anyway, and whatever money you put into the house won't appreciate the way it would in a more in-demand area, making it a bad deal over the long run.
Depending on the value of the practice, the low startup costs are certainly nice, but over the long run it may be a similar kind of deal if there's little value in cashing out later in life.
Faribault county. That is what the article said. It said it was in blue earth. Not a bad spot for a vet willing to do large animal. It would be in a spot like Nevada, Iowa.
It's 45 minutes from Mankato, not exactly super remote.
I just listened to a podcast yesterday about how Mars Inc (the candy company) is buying hundreds of vet practices and most likely your local vet is owned by investors but is still called whatever it was before Mars bought it.
I just listened to a podcast yesterday about how Mars Inc (the candy company) is buying hundreds of vet practices and most likely your local vet is owned by investors but is still called whatever it was before Mars bought it.
Agree. I should have been more direct in my previous post, #10. Post #7 stated that the vet business was located in Faribault and that Northfield was nearby. That is incorrect. FatNTired probably stated the situationit in the best manner: "Faribault County is a long ways from Faribault in many ways."
As I didn't want people to be misled by post #7, I emphasized the fact that the subject business is in Blue Earth, Faribault County, MN and not in Faribault, Rice County, MN. My post also served the purpose of bumping the thread and getting more attention for the generous offer from the ISU Vet alum and BoxsterCy's original post (as this one does also
).As others have mentioned, it is about 45 miles to Mankato and 41 miles to Albert Lea. It is a couple of hours from Minneapolis or a couple of hours from Ames, which isn't too bad. It's a nice easy drive for a football game or whatever.
Free Veterinary Business
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The large animal livestock vet industry has sure changed a lot. This guys main competition is a large veterinary conglomerate out of South Dakota specializing in swine, and while I imagine there are some cattle in his area, looking at the map probably not a lot any more. There is demand for his practice, there always is, but even if you can get by with small animal work two days a week, keeping an on-call practice open and functioning with intermittent work probably is a challenge.
The other kicker here is that there really isn't a ton of money in vet medicine, not what people usually think.
Son's gf went to be a vet, but changed to animal science after 2 years at ISU. Decided better to make $40-50k after 4 years of school, than make $60-80k after 10; esp after adding $100k more of student debt. The ROI is just not really there. She still gets to play with animals in her current job.
My gf is going back to get her vet tech AA. There is a shortage of VT's but the pay is still garbage. We pay our fresh in the door zero skill warehouse guy more than what she will make. You would think pay would go up due to demand, but people just won't pay for animal care.
Son's gf went to be a vet, but changed to animal science after 2 years at ISU. Decided better to make $40-50k after 4 years of school, than make $60-80k after 10; esp after adding $100k more of student debt. The ROI is just not really there. She still gets to play with animals in her current job.
My gf is going back to get her vet tech AA. There is a shortage of VT's but the pay is still garbage. We pay our fresh in the door zero skill warehouse guy more than what she will make. You would think pay would go up due to demand, but people just won't pay for animal care.
