South Dakota

SD State University Brings Vets Back to the State Through New Program

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 15:32:05 GMT

The shortage of large animal veterinarians in the U.S. has been well documented and continues to border on crisis level in the livestock industry. In a call to action, land-grant colleges, such as South Dakota State University (SDSU), have developed programs to attract more students to the profession.

SDSU has teamed up with the University of Minnesota to develop the Professional Program in Veterinary Medicine (PPVM), which helped new veterinarian Renea Burggraff launch her career.

Burggraff has always loved animals, so being a veterinarian was a natural fit. Several months ago, she joined the Twin Lakes Animal Clinic in Madison, S.D., and has since worked with small animals, horses and other large animals.

While Burggraff enjoys working with animals, the same can be said for the producers she serves.

“It makes it special when you have that relationship, you’re working with them and you know they are starting to trust you as a new vet,” she says.

PPVM Program Paves the Way

For Burggraff, earning a vet degree would not have been possible without SDSU’s program. She spent her first two years at SDSU before transitioning to the University of Minnesota in St. Paul for additional classwork and clinicals. She also received the veterinary tuition assistance program scholarship, which for Burggraff was around $75,000 per year while attending SDSU and the University of Minnesota,” Burggraff explains.

“The only stipulation is you have to work in South Dakota for four years, every year that you received the scholarship essentially, so it worked out really well,” she says. “It paid for a good chunk of schooling, so it just made sense to go to SDSU.”

Without the scholarship, she’s not sure where she would have been able to go to vet school due to the high cost of tuition.

Burggraff was one of 18 in the first class of PPVM students that graduated in May. She had no problem finding a job at Twin Lake Animal Clinic.

Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity

For Burgraff, SDSU’s PPVM program was the chance of a lifetime and led to realizing her dream.

“You get to know your professors. You’re not a number, you’re a name,” she says. “We have other opportunities that maybe some of the bigger schools don’t get.”

South Dakota State University Dairy Makes Plans to Close Doors

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 15:17:32 GMT

Despite efforts to keep its farm doors open, students attending South Dakota State University (SDSU) will longer have a working dairy come June 2024.

According to a statement made by the university, the cost of modifying the current building was too great and fundraising efforts were not successful.

Joseph Cassaday, dean of the College of Agriculture, released a statement on the closing.

“After exploring all fundraising opportunities and modifying plans for a workable solution to rebuild the SDSU Dairy Research and Training Facility, the university has decided to discontinue operations at the facility by the end of June 2024,” Cassady said.

Initial cost estimates to build a new SDSU Dairy Research and Training Facility were $50 million, and even with alternative modifications and renovations, the estimated cost would exceed $28 million. The Legislature appropriated $7.5 million for the project, however, the measure was not enough.

“South Dakota State University will continue to offer the same high-quality degree programs in dairy production, dairy manufacturing and food science,” Cassady continued. “We will work with dairy industry partners to provide opportunities in modern, large-scale dairy production facilities for student experiential learning and internships. These decisions will not impact production at the Davis Dairy Plant nor interrupt research taking place in that facility.”

The South Dakota Dairy Producers association also released an announcement following the news.

“The SDSU Dairy Research Farm has a history which runs deep with many dairy farmers and those within the dairy industry, so of course news of the farm ceasing operations in June 2024 is concerning. This legacy has led to the dairy production farm not only developing relevant dairy research and opportunities for students, but also a pipeline of workers, employees, and resources to the dairy farmers and the growing dairy industry in South Dakota,” the organization said.

“In more recent times this growth of the dairy industry in South Dakota has led to more modern dairy farms, not reducing the need for research and innovation; but perhaps changing the location or process of how the research is accomplished. The South Dakota dairy community also has a long history of working together. We look forward to engaging with the SDSU Dairy Science Department and university leadership on a path forward which not only maintains the strength of the department but expands opportunities for students and the department going forward.”

For more industry news, read:

Could South Dakota be the New Dairy State?

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 12:33:15 GMT

When you think of leading dairy production states, Wisconsin may be the first one that comes to mind. However, in 2021 USDA reported the state with the largest milk production growth by percentage in the nation was South Dakota. AgDay’s Michelle Rook takes us there to see what their secret is.