Fairland Veterinary Hospital

Owners: Dr. Vic Boyer and Brenda Boyer

Location: Fairland, Okla.

History: Dr. Vic Boyer considers himself a country boy, having spent his early years near Buffalo Creek in Newton County, Mo., until his father’s job with Empire Electric required that they relocate to Oklahoma when Vic was a teenager.

He can not remember a time when he did not want to be a veterinarian, growing up around cattle and in the country only solidified his passion to work with animals.

Vic graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1982 and started his practice the same year, first from his garage and then on to the current facility, which was built in 1993.

He married his wife Brenda in 1980 and she has worked by his side ever since in various roles at the hospital; receptionist, vet assistant, and now, bookkeeper.

The couple has three children, two sons and one daughter, scattered across the nation.

Some of the strangest animals visiting his practice was a $700 rare Korean turtle, an iguana and a small kangaroo – like rodent called a jerboa.

While he started out with roughly 80 percent of his practice consisting of large animals, pets and small animals are a growing market. Today he attributes more than 50 percent of his practice to that growing niche.

“Times have changed. Used to be as a veterinarian you helped people keep their cattle and horses goin’ because that was their way of life,” Vic said. “We still do some but the demand for companion animals has increased tremendously.”

Products and Services: Fairland Veterinary Hospital offers routine animal care and health services, such as, vaccinations, spay/neuter, and various other types of surgeries for critters of all shapes, species and sizes. He still works on cattle and does have some equine patients, which tend to be more pleasure sport animals these days.

“But this will always be a rural practice,” he said.

Goal for the future: “My hope is to pass the business on to a young veterinarian and slow down some,” Vic concluded. “I don’t really want to entirely quit. And we are thinking about maybe building a house back around the old homeplace near Buffalo Creek in Newton County.”