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CapitalPress.com
Friday, March 18, 2022
Washington gets a new state veterinarian
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Itle addresses shortage of large-animal vets
OLYMPIA — Dr. Amber Itle
can drop the “interim” from her
title. She is the new state veterinar-
ian at the Washington Department
of Agriculture.
Itle fi rst joined WSDA in 2013
as a fi eld veterinarian and was
appointed assis-
tant state veter-
inarian in 2017.
Last
summer,
she was named
interim state vet-
erinarian upon the
retirement of Dr.
Dr. Amber
Brian Joseph.
Itle
“I am confi dent
that Dr. Itle will be
an exceptional state veterinarian.
She has years of experience in ani-
mal agriculture, is well regarded
by our state’s livestock indus-
try and cares deeply about animal
health and welfare,” WSDA direc-
tor Derek Sandison said in a press
release. “Dr. Itle has been doing a
terrifi c job these past few months
and I look forward to working with
her in this permanent role.”
Itle spent 10 years as a live-
stock, equine and sale yard veter-
inarian in the private sector before
joining WSDA.
“I always tell people, ‘You can’t
regulate an industry you don’t
understand,’” Itle said. “The only
way to understand an industry is to
either grow up in it, or work in it.”
One thing that Itle says keeps
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
The shrinking number of large-animal veterinarians for food ani-
mals and equines remains a concern, said Dr. Amber Itle, the new
Washington state veterinarian.
“We certainly are experiencing a shortage like we’ve never seen
before,” she said.
Itle sees a paradigm shift in the overall profession.
“It’s very diffi cult work,” she said. “Folks are having to travel far-
ther to do that work, and let’s just be real, livestock veterinarians
don’t make as much money as veterinarians who go into small ani-
mal (practices). ... It’s a lifestyle. You have to love getting out there
and being with the cows and being with people.”
The industry must recruit into veterinary school people who come
from an agricultural background, Itle said.
“When you’re born and raised with it, (that’s) the best way to
understand it,” she said. “I have never been disappointed by any job
I’ve ever had in the fi eld of agriculture, nor have I been disappointed
by anything I’ve ever tried in the fi eld of veterinary medicine.”
Itle successfully identifi ed four shortage areas in the state, two
in central Washington, one in southeast Washington and one on the
Olympic Peninsula, for the USDA National Institute of Food and
Agriculture’s Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program.
The goal is to attract livestock veterinarians to those areas.
The program pays up to $25,000 each year toward qualifi ed
educational loans of eligible veterinarians who agree to serve in a
NIFA-designated veterinarian shortage situation for three years.
Another shortage area would be helpful in the Okanogan area, Itle
said.
her up at night is making sure
Washington remains an economi-
cally viable place to be a rancher,
dairy farmer or otherwise involved
in animal agriculture.
“Leaning into that challenge
and thinking about those social sci-
ences — what is the public percep-
tion, how have the public’s values
changed over time and how do we
need to respond to that as an agri-
cultural community?” she said.
Itle’s father and sister are also
veterinarians. Her father celebrates
50 years as a practicing food ani-
mal veterinarian this May and still
works full-time.
“If that doesn’t inspire some-
one, I don’t know what does,” she
said. “Growing up, seeing the pas-
sion he has for agriculture in his
work really had an impact on me.”
Her extended family is in the
dairy industry.
“Getting to be part of that whole
process, from shoveling the poop
out of the stalls, to milking the
cows, to delivering the products,
it changed my life,” she said. “Not
only did I have the perspective of
what the producer endures and
deals with, but also what does the
consumer want on the other end?”
Itle commended Washington’s
cattle industry for embracing ani-
mal disease traceability and sup-
porting eff orts to build infrastruc-
ture, including adopting RFID tag
technology.
“Our mission is to protect ani-
mal health and welfare, but part of
that is being able to respond, con-
tain, eradicate diseases, and then
to be able to recover from that,”
she said. “Having that traceability
piece on the front end is going to
help us do that better.”
Next steps include exercising
response plans to maintain con-
tinuity of business in the event of
a disease to sustain international
trade opportunities, she said.
Itle praised the “amazing, for-
ward-thinking,
collaborative”
leaders in the state’s agricultural
industry.
“Once I get a project or an idea,
I’m going to take the bull by the
horns and I’m not going to let it go
until we get it done,” she said. “So
if folks out there have things they
want to do, come fl oat some ideas
my way. I love working with peo-
ple to get where they want to go.”
Itle wants to partner with ranch-
ers to be part of the solution.
“As soon as I feel like I’m not
part of the solution any more, I’m
quitting this job,” she said. “At
least I can be a placeholder to pro-
tect our industry from somebody
who doesn’t understand our indus-
try. But we can do so much more
than that. We can be more proac-
tive, lean in, see what’s coming
down the pike and be prepared.”
Asked her biggest piece of
advice for Washington ranchers,
she turned the question around.
“I would ask them to tell me
what they need,” Itle told the Cap-
ital Press.
Itle rattled off the strains ranch-
ers face in general: regulations,
wolves and other predators, sup-
ply chain disruptions, higher cost
of production and the weather.
“I think there’s just so many
challenges the ranchers have to
deal with day to day that I don’t
think I’m in the position to tell
them what their problems are,”
she said. “I think they have a lot
of challenges, and what I would be
looking for from those ranchers are
‘What can we do at the state vet’s
offi ce to help you overcome one of
those challenges?’”
Idaho Senate panel narrowly backs new version of vet loan-aid bill
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
BOISE — The Idaho
Senate Agricultural Aff airs
Committee March 10 voted
5-4 to advance a replace-
ment proposal to help vet-
erinarians pay education
expenses if they work in
rural areas with livestock.
The committee sent
Senate Bill 1380 to the full
Senate with a do-pass rec-
ommendation. It replaces
SB 1344, which died in
committee.
The new bill keeps its
predecessor’s participation
and loan-repayment limits.
Up to 10 veterinarians per
year could receive a max-
imum of $25,000 a year to
repay education expenses
for up to three years, as
long as they are not already
enrolled in another repay-
ment program.
Also like the earlier
proposal, qualifying vet-
erinarians would agree to
devote at least half their
practices to caring for
livestock in rural areas.
The new bill adds a
requirement that the vet-
erinarian sign a contract to
spend at least four years in
production animal care in a
rural area.
Sen. Michelle Sten-
nett, D-Ketchum, the bill’s
sponsor, said the four-year
commitment is envisioned
as allowing the practice to
become established while
not overburdening the vet
if he or she needs to relo-
cate earlier. A vet who
does not fulfi ll the con-
tract would be required to
repay the fi nal year’s grant
amount.
The bill would task the
Idaho State Department
of Agriculture to form an
in-house committee to
screen and select applicants
and monitor participation.
The earlier proposal
called for a grant-review
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A new bill aimed at keeping more veterinarians in
large-animal practices has been sent to the Idaho Sen-
ate fl oor.
board of appointees. Hav-
ing a board was deemed
potentially too cumber-
some and heavy-handed,
but a motion to have the
Senate amend the bill
to instead use a depart-
ment committee did not
advance.
The new bill, like its
predecessor, would estab-
lish a fund to which fed-
eral money and private
donations could be added.
“I’m disappointed the
industry didn’t come to the
table with an initial con-
tribution,” said Sen. Lori
Den Hartog, R-Meridian.
“I’m not sure this is the
way to solve the problem.”
Several
committee
members opposed paying
for the program mainly
with the state general fund.
Livestock
industry
representatives
stressed
the industries’ substan-
tial contribution to annual
farm gate receipts and
the state economy over-
all. The industries pay fees
into state Department of
Agriculture funds dedi-
cated for industry-specific
purposes.
David Claiborne, an
attorney for the Idaho
Dairymen’s
Associa-
tion, said the group since
2008 has made substantial
annual contributions to the
Northwest Bovine Veteri-
nary Experience Program.
There was widespread
agreement that livestock
industries are major eco-
nomic contributors and
that there is a shortage of
production-animal veteri-
narians — largely because
treating pets pays more.
Meanwhile, there are more
required cattle vaccina-
tions a vet must administer.
“I question whether
this is going to greatly
help that or not,” said Sen.
Doug Ricks, R-Rexburg.
An incentive program
probably is not enough to
keep vets in rural areas and
focused on large animals,
and there are other potential
approaches that are not gov-
ernment-driven, he said.
S. Idaho Livestock Hall of
Fame to honor inductees
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
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TWIN FALLS, Idaho —
The Southern Idaho Live-
stock Hall of Fame will
honor its newest inductees
on April 12 at the Turf Club
during the organization’s
61st annual banquet.
The 2020 inductions were
delayed two years due to the
COVID -19 pandemic.
Those inductees to be
honored this year are: cattle
producers Guy and Sherry
Colyer of Bruneau, sheep
producers Don and Patricia
Pickett of Oakley, former
Idaho State Brand Inspector
Larry Hayhurst of Nampa
and dairyman John Reitsma
(posthumously) of Jerome.
The banquet will open
with social time at 6:30 p.m.
followed by dinner at 7 p.m.
Tickets for the prime
rib dinner are $30 and can
be reserved by calling Eric
Bennett at (208) 320-5769.
For
more
infor-
mation,
visit
https://
w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m /
SouthernIdahoLivestock/