Care for creation often inspires images of green fields, bodies of water or trees and flowers. But for Maggie Wehseler, a veterinarian and mom of six, it is much more than that. It also means caring for animals and the people who love and tend to them.
Every time I hear the first chapters of Genesis, when God created the earth and entrusted man with its care, I am reminded that he is still entrusting us with the care of his creation today,” she said.
Maggie was raised on a dairy farm near Brainerd, Minnesota, where she fell in love with rural life and agriculture.
“I have always loved animals, science and agriculture,” she said. “Being a veterinarian was a way to combine all three of those passions.”
After graduating from Brainerd High School, she attended the University of Minnesota Twin Cities for her undergraduate degree and veterinary school. She graduated in 2014 and joined Litke’s Veterinary Service in Pierz. She became a partner in the practice in 2024.
She and her husband, Leo, who was ordained a deacon in 2023, and their children are members of St. Joseph Parish in Pierz.
Maggie is passionate about her responsibility to the creatures she treats and is just as enthusiastic about the humans who she encounters.
“I work with people just as much as I work with animals,” she says. “Communicating and building relationships with clients — whether it’s clients with a beloved pet or a farmer who owns livestock — is an important part of the job.”
“Animals are a great gift, and their goodness comes from their Creator,” she added. “Caring for animals is caring for the created world and not abusing or taking advantage of the gift they are to us from God. We have a duty to them — whether they are for food or for companionship — to provide for their needs, medical care, relief from suffering and a humane death.”
Maggie has an easy rapport with her clients and treasures the relationships she has developed with them. She enjoys hearing about their families, their struggles, their faith and what’s new in their lives. The animals they entrust to her care, she says, are a conduit for being able to connect with them in a meaningful way.
“At the end of the day, much of my job fulfillment comes from the meaningful connections with clients,” she said.
Maggie works daily with farmers who, she says, care deeply for their livestock and the land they farm.
“Their livestock are meant for food so it’s a little different than the pets that most people can understand or relate to,” she said. “I am inspired by watching these farmers gently work with their cattle, making sure their environment is comfortable and their needs are met, calling me when they need advice about a sick one and cultivating the earth in an ethical way that provides food without soil depletion. It doesn’t matter that they may have more than 100 cattle or hundreds of acres, they still care deeply.”
Doug Popp, one of the farmers Maggie works with, says he finds her very easy to talk to. Doug, who spent two years in seminary, said conversations with Maggie during herd checks and farm visits often naturally turn to Church and faith.
“Sometimes we get to talking and time just flies by,” he said.
Doug said he is impressed by how she handles herself in tough situations on the farm and described Maggie as highly competent and trustworthy and willing to do difficult, hands-on work.
“She isn’t afraid to get in there and get dirty,” he said.
Maggie remembers one humbling moment with another dairy farmer when his cow needed surgery. She did her best to try to save her, but she thought everything she was doing was making it worse.
“As I was closing her up feeling defeated, the client asked me if she was going to live and I said no,” she recalled. “This farmer’s name was Leroy, and he said, ‘Well, Dr. Maggie,
I’m a praying man and Jesus will heal her. She’s going to be fine.’ I replied, ‘Leroy, I pray to Jesus too, but I still think your cow is going to die. She’s a mess inside and I couldn’t fix it.’”
“Well, she lived, and Leroy reminds me of my lack of faith in cow prayers and how Jesus still hears our humble pleas for things like healing sick cows,” she said. “That has stuck with me for 10 years now and when I have a cow I think is going to die, I tell clients that she needs some cow prayers.”
Maggie’s faith shapes every part of her life, said her friend Diane Korver. Diane’s husband, Craig, serves as a deacon alongside Maggie’s husband, Leo, in the Father Francis Xavier Pierz Area Catholic Community. “Her love and care for animals, and animal owner families, is evident when you [talk to] her,” she said.
The Wehseler children also get involved in Maggie’s work and have developed a strong connection to agriculture.
“My children really enjoy coming on work calls with me after hours,” Maggie said. “My 7-year-old, Mark, enjoys helping me carry my equipment and my older daughters, Catherine and Maria, ages 16 and 14, enjoy assisting with my work, talking to clients and learning at the same time.”
They are involved in 4-H, leasing and showing dairy goats, dairy cattle, sheep, chickens and rabbits.
“Showing animals at the Crow Wing County Fair is one of the highlights of their summer and is their connection to agriculture,” she said.
Maggie brings her faith into her work in a quiet, authentic way and has a very caring and empathetic manner with her clients, said Jamie Litke, her business partner and co-owner of the practice. He noted that Maggie never seeks to make her beliefs the center of attention.
As business owners, Maggie and Jamie strive to create a work culture that brings out the best in their employees with work that is meaningful, supported and balanced with family life.
“We value teamwork, relationship building, honesty and having fun every day,” Maggie said.
“My faith is what inspires us to create and commit to that culture every day.”
“Her Catholic faith is the foundation of her work ethic,” Diane added. “Caring for God’s creation is something we are all called to do and her loving and compassionate care of the animals — big and small
— is grounded in serving God and stewardship of
his creation.”
During her workday, Maggie can experience a full range of emotions. She witnesses the joy and affection families have for their pets and the dedication of farmers who wake up multiple times during the night to check on cows that are calving.
She also walks with clients through heartbreaking moments — like the request to euthanize the farm dog that has greeted them faithfully at chore time for years, or the visit from a gentleman whose aging dog is his last living connection to his late wife and the reason he gets out of bed each morning.
“Her loving heart loves the animal owners through the most difficult times,” Diane said.
“My faith helps me keep perspective after a string of difficult cases,” Maggie says. “It reminds me to seek forgiveness, and to forgive myself, when I fall short of the ideals of the Christian life.”