Veterinarian's Five-Year Search for a Successor Ends with Successful Outcome
Faribault County, Minn., is home to a new veterinarian: Dr. Zach Adams, a 2021 graduate of the Iowa State University School of Veterinary Medicine.
At first blush, there’s nothing unusual about that. But consider the back story.
Until now, the county has been home to 822 farms, 13,000-plus head of beef and dairy cattle and only one veterinarian, Dr. Robert Bogan.
The 75-year-old practitioner wanted to retire but refused to leave the area without a veterinarian.
For the right successor, Dr. Bogan pledged to hand over his practice, the deed to his clinic, Makotah Veterinary Center (including everything inside except the pharmaceuticals), his pickup and – not least of all – the clinic cat, Annie.
Bogan’s efforts were featured by Minneapolis-based KARE 11 TV News, and then picked up and shared across social media channels, including more than 8,000 times on Facebook.
According to the KARE 11 TV News, “This story spread far and wide and the message got to where it needed to go,” Blue Earth City Administrator Mary Kennedy says.
This past fall, 10 young vets and vet students expressed interest. In September, eight of them made the trip to Blue Earth to meet with Bogan and tour the town. Five of those submitted formal applications.
From the applicants, Bogan then selected Adams, putting the end to a five-year search.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Adams told KARE. “I came here and realized it was a good fit.”
Adams was serving his veterinary residency in North Carolina when he saw the story posted on his vet school's Facebook page.
“I was just sitting in my apartment scrolling through Facebook,” Adams says. “I was like, that sounds like something I could do.”
Adams grew up on a hobby farm near Preston, Iowa, a town of about 900 people.
He says Blue Earth felt right.
Adams started working alongside Bogan in January with an ownership transition planned over the next year or so.
Read More:
74-Year-Old Veterinarian Offers to Give Away his Practice to Attract Replacement
