History

Established 1981

NPVC began in the community of New Pittsburg, 8 miles west of Wooster on State Route 250.  Dr. Richard Wiley and his wife Karen, a registered veterinary technician, purchased a home and building in July of 1981, previously owned by a veterinarian Dr. Harold Appleman who had died in 1976. He had constructed a small 25’x25’ building as a veterinary clinic.  The building's three rooms consisted of an office waiting room (a desk, 3 chairs, 1 phone, and a computer), lab/exam room/surgery room, and a storage/kennel.

Dr. Jim Dittoe joined the practice in 1982 and Dr. Brad Garrison in 1983. Although the practice was primarily dairy, horses were also served. Farm calls were primarily for sick and emergency issues. NPVC served about 140 dairy farms with herd size average of 100 cows. The first doctor finished with farm calls, would see small animal clients from 4-5:00.  Spays were scheduled for Mondays and promised to be done by the end of the week as time allowed.

Out of space the practice moved to the present site in Wooster in 1986.  The current building was a church when purchased, but was originally a manufacturing facility, and one time known as the 10 county egg auction. 

Dr. Dave White joined the practice in 2003.  Dr. Mike Finney of Marshallville merged his dairy practice with NPVC in 2007. In November of 2017, we hired Dr. Craig Zimmerly.

In 2018 both Dr. Wiley and Dr. Finney decided to retire from the large animal aspect of veterinary medicine.

Today NPVC is one of the largest dairy cattle practices in Ohio servicing 90 dairy farms milking 25,000 cows and total of over 50,000 cattle, the majority within 50 miles of Wooster.  All large animal work is done on the farm.  The staff includes four veterinarians, a registered veterinary technician, a bookkeeper, and a receptionist.

As livestock farms continue to consolidate into fewer but larger units, veterinary medical services are much more focused on preventative medicine and production medicine.  Sick animal and emergency issues account for less than 10% of farm calls.  Typical days evolve around routine reproductive herd checks which are prescheduled typically on weekly, biweekly or monthly basis.