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Wanted: livestock veterinarians
They might not feel the pinch, yet.
But Farm Bureau officials warn they will.
While veterinary schools continue to graduate plenty of qualified veterinarians, fewer of those grads are seeking careers working with food animals. That's a huge concern if you raise livestock.
It's significant even if you don't.
Large-animal vets are involved in “everything from controlling zoonotic diseases (those that can be transmitted from animals to humans) to making sure what you eat is safe,” said Dr. Tom Massie, who established the Rose Hill Veterinary Practice in Rappahannock County in1998. What most worries Massie is “where are the young people” to replace retiring large-animal vets.
“In our practice, we primarily focus on bovine and equine medicine and surgery. We also work with sheep, goats, exotic hoof stock, camels, llamas, alpacas, and the occasional pot-bellied pig,” Massie explained, noting that he sees fewer young vet students going into the livestock specialty.
The American Veterinary Medical Association reports that 60 percent of last year's vet grads went into private practice, with just five percent in large-animal medicine.
“For a farmer with livestock, the possibility of not being able to get a vet when you need them is not unlike being unable to reach an MD when someone in your family is ill,” said Lindsay Reames of the Virginia Farm Bureau. “Animals are a tremendous business and personal investment, and it's in every farmer's interest to be careful about their health. Ultimately, the greater public health is involved.”
Dr. Gerhardt Schurig, Dean of the Virginia-Maryland Regional School of Veterinary Medicine at Blacksburg, said that “from farm to fork, veterinarians are helping produce and ensure the safety of our food supply.”
But fewer Americans have direct ties to farming then they did even a generation ago, Massie said. “So the concept of coming out of vet school and working in agriculture is not very normal” to many young people when they consider career options.
“Vet students do not seem to be attracted to the longer working hours of a large-animal practice,” said Dr. Joyce Harman. “There's no 'emergency clinic' to take after-hour calls. It is physically harder work, and I think many people who are student-age now are not as physically fit nor have they worked on a farm” previously.
Harman explained that college grads can make more money off a business, engineering or computer degree and “work a lot less.”
Too, “kids don't want to get dirty, cold and wet working,” things that large-animal medicine virtually guarantees, she said.
Harman raises Scottish Highland cattle, doing all of her own vet work, naturally, and virtually all of her own labor, so the shortage won't affect her anytime soon.
Base salaries in small-animal practices range from $75,000 to $100,000 plus a percentage commission, said Dr. Kat Gray, who runs the mixed Agape Vet in The Plains. “Equine practice (income) is comparative but with much worse hours.”
“There are a couple of solo food animal practitioners in the southern Fauquier region, but they do not work on the variety that our practice covers and are restricted to on-farm care,” Massie said. “Our practice is unique in that it cares for many species on the farm or in our hospital with multiple veterinarians who have expertise in them. The larger farms tend to use our services because we bring much more than classical medicine and surgery to the farm. Client education and production management efficiency are our focus.”
The need for vets is slightly eased because most big farms hire experienced managers who can handle routine vet care, such as inoculations and non-emergency calving. Big farms such as Over The Grass in The Plains and Marriott Ranch in Hume still count on the availability of ambulatory vets, particularly in spring calving season. Rose Hill handles many of the region's cattle operations, including much of the work for Virginia Beef that leases thousands of acres around Fauquier and surrounding counties.
“Students choose their practice focus while in their first two years of veterinary school, and then they begin to focus their study,” Massie said. “All grads are trained in all species to handle routine medicine and surgery and thus all have equivalent degrees after four years of education. The depth and breadth of knowledge required to be competent in your choice of species work is so vast that now most schools allow for more specific species study while in school.”
High school programs such as 4-H and FFA exist largely to identify capable students early, to offer continuous mentorship to develop academic careers. “I suppose it is not unlike raising anything else, with time those with potential can excel,” Massie added. “Unfortunately, more and more of our population is raised without any direct contact with agriculture at any level.”
Veterinary schools, such as Virginia-Maryland, receive between seven and 12 applicants per available slot; competition is stiff. About 2,500 vet students graduate in the U.S. each year.
“Overall, there are less veterinarians graduating than there are jobs available,” added Dr. Tim Casey, who owns an equine practice in Marshall. “Unfortunately, small town USA takes the biggest hit. All the small-animal graduates want to go to the big cities. There are very few equine graduates, and they all want to go to Middleburg, Lexington, Kentucky or Ocala, Florida.
“I was told a few years ago by staff at Virginia Tech that they typically have less than six students per class that 'might' be interested in doing horses and probably half that interested in food-animal medicine.”
To counter the increasing shortage of vets in rural regions, some localities are turning to extreme measures. Casey said that he saw a county in South Dakota advertising that they would pay a vet student's tuition if he or she would set up practice in the remote region.
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