ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
Growing up in Clay Center, Michaela Schlochtermeier spent much time as part of a stocker cattle and row crop operation.
In school, she was active in 4-H and FFA, and she would go on to get her undergraduate degree from K-State in animal science and later graduating from vet school at K-State as well.
Schlochtermeier would go on to meet her husband, who is from Meade, and this is what brought her to Southwest Kansas, where she is now a veterinarian in the small town.
Having grown up around agriculture and being part of FFA, Schlochtermeier knew she wanted to work in that industry since her youth.
“I worked at a vet clinic when I was in high school,” she said. “I really liked the animal science side of things, and in undergrad, taking a lot of those animal science classes made me want to pursue vet school.”
Schlochtermeier now works at the Meade Veterinary Hospital (MVH), one of three satellite locations of a clinic based in Dodge City, with the others being in Greensburg and Kinsley.
When she began working as a veterinarian, Schlochtermeier originally worked mainly at the clinic in Dodge City, and this meant the Meade clinic was only open half a day on Tuesday afternoons.
Living in Meade, Schlochtermeier, however, now operates mainly at the MVH, and she said since then, the business has now grown.
“Now, we’re open a full day Monday and a full day Tuesday,” she said. “The spot we’re at now on Highway 54 is a much bigger location than we were at previously. We have the full blood work machines. We have anesthesia capabilities. We can do surgeries. We can do quite a lot of medicine and surgeries in that clinic. That’s really nice to have down here.”
Schlochtermeier offers several services, including vaccine appointments for small animals, dentistry services, blood work machines and surgeries. MVH does not offer X-ray capabilities at this time, but she said plans are being worked on to get that equipment in place. For now, X-rays are done at the Dodge City clinic. MVH likewise has a 24-hour dog wash accessible from the alley behind the clinic.
Schlochtermeier provides services for larger animals too, doing farm calls for cattle producers.
“We don’t have hauling facilities, same way with equine services,” she said. “We can do vaccines, dental, equine throats. I just have to do all of that on farms. We don’t have any large animal facilities yet.”
Schlochtermeier also worked at a clinic in Cimarron, but that clinic is now closed, and she said she has seen a few of the customers from that clinic now in Meade. She also has customers from Ashland, Garden City, Liberal and Oklahoma at the Meade clinic, with MVH taking in patients from at least a 45 to 50-mile radius.
MVH has been running for about 20 years, and prior to Schlochtermeier coming to the clinic, it was primarily run by one of the owners of the Dodge City clinic would come down on Tuesday afternoons to see patients.
“It had always been a goal of his to grow it to two days a week,” she said. “He knew the business was down here, but with the time and the commitment Dodge City entailed, he could never step away from that clinic to run it down here. When I started working for him, since I live down here, that’s when they saw the opportunity to really grow it to two days a week.”
Like many areas of the country, Southwest Kansas lacks veterinary services, and Schlochtermeier said the need is huge particularly for vets for small animal, but there is also a need for large animal doctors.
“There aren’t that many people who want to come out here and offer those large animal services, but with all the feedlots and cow, calf producers down here, it’s definitely a need in this part of the state,” she said.
With such a lack of vets, Schlochtermeier said clinics such as MVH find themselves constantly busy.
“There’s even been times up at Dodge City where we’ll have emergencies during the day come in like a calf that needs pulled or a colicking horse,” she said. “You just have to make yourself available for those things. You’re the only person they have around. They can’t drive an hour for things like that. It does take a toll on you to always be available, but that’s what comes with being in a smaller rural community. You have to make yourself available to meet those needs of producers and small animal people.”
Schlochtermeier said she sees primarily cats, dogs, cattle and horses, and though more exotic animals are typically seen at the Dodge City clinic, she does see them from time to time in Meade.
“I’m not very educated in that aspect,” she said.
Schlochtermeier said many vet schools are working to get more students into rural America not just in Kansas, but also Oklahoma, Colorado and Nebraska.
“I think part of it comes down to the demographics of the students these schools are accepting,” she said. “A lot of the students they accept into those schools are from the big city. They’re from Kansas City, Chicago, New York, California, big towns. These city kids go back to the city. Nothing against them or nothing against that, but if the vet schools want to start putting out more rural veterinarians, they’ve got to start accepting more kids into that school who have those rural backgrounds and come from smaller towns and have that farming or cattle background.”
MVH is located at 405 W. Carthage Street in Meade and is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays and Tuesday. To make an appointment, call 620-873-2880.
“If it’s a Monday or a Tuesday, we will answer it in the Meade office,” Schlochtermeier said. “If not, that number gets forwarded to Dodge. If they call Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, one of the secretaries, receptionists up at Dodge will answer it. They can still make an appointment to be seen at Meade. They just have to say I want to be seen at the Meade clinic. Otherwise, there’s some confusion, and they can get put on the Dodge schedule. They just need to emphasize they want to be seen in Meade, and the gals can get them scheduled.”
