Sioux Nation Ag Center in Wagner welcomes Dr. Greg Mantz as the new full-time veterinarian for the Wagner area. Dr. Mantz will be working out of the Wagner store, and will be available for routine work on the farm. He will also respond to after-hours large animal emergencies.

Dr. Mantz grew up on farm in Ness County of western Kansas. He received his BS in Animal Science from Kansas State University in 1990 and earned his MS in Rangeland Science from Utah State University in 1993. He spent 10 years working ranches, feedyards and agricultural research centers in Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming before returning to Utah State in 2003 to complete his Ph.D. in Rangeland Science with an emphasis on animal foraging behavior in relation to toxic plants.

After completing his Ph.D., Dr. Mantz worked as a herdsman and animal scientist at North Dakota State University’s Central Grasslands Research Center in Streeter before the North Dakota Admissions Committee selected him to attend the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University. He graduated in 2014 and operated a mobile large animal practice in western Kansas before joining the Sioux Nation team.

Dr. Mantz is grateful for the opportunity to serve the Wagner area. He remarks “My home state of Kansas and my adopted state of North Dakota have both aggressively addressed the shortage of food animal veterinarians in their respective States. As a result, Kansas and North Dakota no longer offer the vast opportunities for food animal veterinarians that South Dakota still offers.”