Location: Phillipsburg, Mo.
Owner: Dr. Clinton Eastburn
History: Dr. Clinton Eastburn grew up in Phillipsburg on his parents’ small cattle operation.
After graduating from Conway High School and the University of Missouri’s Veterinary School in 2016, he returned to Phillipsburg.
“I met my wife, Nicole in vet school. She worked in Springfield for four or five years and I worked in Buffalo before we opened our own veterinary service here just over three years ago.” He continued. “After two years, we also hired Dr. C.J. Volckmann, also an MU graduate and last year, we added Dr. Lacie Reed to our staff.”
Services: “We serve both large and small animals. Lacie, C.J. and I are all mixed animal practitioners. I usually do the large animal practice and my wife, Nicole prefers the small animals. CJ also does the exotic animals in our practice, but all four of us trade around and do all the animals from time to time.”
“Exotics” he said, “refers to all sorts of animals from snakes to kangaroos to wallabies. People breed the kangaroos and wallabies just like any other animal they might raise. A snake might be brought in because it doesn’t seem to be shedding correctly or has a swelling due to swallowing an egg. There is no typical case with these kinds of animal.”
Dr. Nicole Eastburn stated, “I think our biggest challenge is client financial hardships. We always want to help every animal that comes through our doors, but owner financial constraints can limit our abilities to adequately treat certain patients. This in no way means we do not care about every animal we see but we are a business and unfortunately cost does play a part in everything we do.”
“Dr. Clinton Eastburn continued. “We cannot charge like the vets in the big city and therefore, we can’t pay our people the same way the big city vet clinics do but I enjoy this way of life, working in a rural area. For me, the best part of it all is getting to work with the farmers and the general atmosphere of working on their farms.”
Future Plans: “For now,” he stated, “we plan to continue to work hard to keep up with the busiest time of year, spring and fall calving, for instance. I’d like to see us do more with reproductive services for our horses and cows. I feel like we have a good team. We are happy to be here for our community, to help-that’s why we’re here.”
