Demand for large animal veterinarians still strong

Madison Durflinger knew she wanted a career working with animals while growing up on a farm near Eldon in southeast Iowa. “We had a small cow-calf operation along with row crops,” she says. “That really sparked my interest in veterinary medicine.” Durflinger graduated from Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in 2023 and started working at the Stuart Veterinary Clinic in Stuart, Iowa. Prior to entering vet school, Durflinger received her bachelor’s degrees in biology and animal science at Iowa State. “I visited a lot of clinics around the Midwest, and it was really cool to see how they were all somehow different,” she says. “The clinic in Stuart really matched what I wanted in a practice. It’s been a great opportunity.” While Durflinger works with animals of all sizes, most of her emphasis at Iowa State came with large animals, especially hogs. The vet school encourages students to recognize the opportunities out there for large animal veterinarians, says Justin