To be a country veterinarian, a person has to work long hours in all types of weather and be on call in case of emergencies all the rest of the hours. They also might get kicked by a cow or bitten by a dog. Not everyone could or would work this way, but Vienna’s local veterinarian, Dr. Loyal Henderson, DVM, has been doing this for 43 years and he says his likes it “most of the time.”

The Vienna Vet Clinic is the Vienna Chamber of Commerce (VCOC) Business of the Month. The business phone number is 573-422-3437. Business hours are 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday. Dr. Henderson has three full time employees and four part time employees. Born and raised in Vienna, Maries County, Missouri, a son of Howard and Jean Henderson, Dr. Henderson said he was used to doing farm work and enjoyed working with livestock. He graduated from Maries R-1 in 1970 and attended the University of Missouri-Columbia, graduating with a doctor of veterinary medicine degree in 1976. Fresh out of the university, Dr. Henderson joined Dr. Max John, who had a veterinary practice out of his home. He says Dr. John gave him a chance and “I jumped at it.” He worked with Dr. John until the end of 1980 when the older vet quit private practice. “I fixed up the old post office building and have been there ever since.”

The old post office building is located at 302 South Main Street in Vienna. People and their pets can be seen coming and going from his building and Dr. Henderson’s white truck is seen and known throughout the region as he travels to take care of everyone’s animals. He provides veterinary services for large and small animals, mostly cattle, dogs and cats, horses, sheep, goats and occasionally hogs.

When he first began his practice, most of the animals he treated were large animals. Maries County is rural and agriculture-based and still his practice is primarily large animals, at about 55 percent of the work he does. Dr. Henderson says he rarely treats a hog now as all of the hog farming has been consolidated into large operations. When he began his practice, about every farm had some hogs.

His practice has been rewarding for him and he enjoys it. The hours are long though, but that’s all part of the job. He was used to working long hours because he came from a farming background. These days, it may be a harder to get young vets to establish their own practice in a rural area because many don’t want to work nights and weekends, which is required of country vets.

Over the years, Dr. Henderson said he’s had several students shadow him and after they shadow him, they decide not to go on with their veterinarian studies. Or, they want to practice small animal veterinarian medicine in an urban setting and as an employee and not as the owner, sharing duties and reducing after-hours work.

There are other factors that have led to the shortage of large animal vets. One factor is that it is so expensive and these students have an average of over $140,000 in students loans to pay off when they get out of vet school. However, Dr. Henderson said there is a program now that places new vets in areas where there is a shortage of vets and up to $20,000 a year for four years in loans are forgiven.

At age 66, Dr. Henderson said he will continue his practice as long as he’s able. He’s begun to look for a vet to work with him at his clinic in the future. In looking back, he said “It has been extremely satisfying to have been able to practice in Vienna for over forty years. You just can’t beat Maries County and the surrounding communities.”