Keeping large-animal vets on the farm
Large-animal veterinarians are becoming an increasingly rare breed as many animal doctors choose the lucrative, office-friendly route of treating cats and dogs. Joel Rose explores what one state is doing to breed new vets.
Cow (Sam Eaton)
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Steve Chiotakis: When a farmer in this country needs help caring for a sick cow, the nearest veterinarian could be several hours away. Large-animal vets are becoming an endangered species as more vet school grads choose the relatively lucrative option of treating dogs and cats. Now, some states are trying to lure more young vets back to the farm. Joel Rose reports.
Lester Griel: How many babies does a pig have at a time? Huh?
Joel Rose: In a classroom at Penn State University, a dozen high-school students get a lesson in animal reproduction from professor Lester Griel.
Griel: How many babies does a cow have at a time?
Student: One.
Griel: One I hope. I hate twins.
The students are spending a Saturday at a conference on veterinary medicine. Professor Robert Van Saun says most of these students are familiar only with dogs and cats.
Robert Van Saun: The greatest chance we have to get people think about large-animal practice is to start early.
And the stakes are high. There are roughly 500 rural counties in the U.S. that have lots of pigs, cows and horses, and no veterinarians to treat them. Most vet school grads choose to work with pets. They're drawn by the shorter hours, better working conditions and starting salaries up to 20 percent higher.
David Wolfgang: We're stretched thin, we haven't broken yet. But what happened is if we had a major outbreak, a major food safety issue, that's when crisis gets more critical.
David Wolfgang is the chairman of Project Pennsylvania. It's a campaign to recruit more large-animal veterinarians into the profession -- and keep them there.
Wolfgang: Professional school education is extraordinarily expensive. Many students graduate from professional school with between $110,000 to $160,000 of debt. So it's really challenging for young professionals.
Thirteen states offer some kind debt relief for students who agree to specialize in treating cows, horses and other farm animals. And some aspiring veterinarians say they're willing to trade higher wages for a more rewarding practice.
Penn State senior Maggie Zink says she wants to work with large animals:
Maggie Zink: I just loved the experience of it. Not being in an office all day long, seeing clients in and out of the door. You get to go out and be out in the country.
Zink's teachers have to hope she still feels that way when she graduates from veterinary school.
In State College, Penn., I'm Joel Rose for Marketplace.
Comments
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From leo, IN, 07/24/2009
I want to now is it better to be a small animal vet or large? which pays better? And which one is tougher? :) thanks opinions welocme!!
07/22/2009
There is an article on wikihorseworld.com that I have found to be very informative on the subject of large animal veterinarians. The link to that article is: http://www.wikihorseworld.com/wiki/Large_Animal_Veterinarians
From Clovis, NM, 04/07/2009
My husband has been a rural large animal veterinarian for 26 years and it’s hard for him to encourage anyone to follow in his footsteps. With long hours, low pay, dangerous duties and an increasing lack of support from the community, it’s hard to find the motivation. For example, today, an established client called with many questions about equine vaccines and then proceeded to inform him that she would be ordering the vaccines through a mail order catalog!
From Taneytown, MD, 04/07/2009
Sir, there are a number of reasons recent vet school graduates prefer small animal/pet practice in addition to the money. When I say pet practice I include horses. Horses actually fall into two categories. 1)Race horses. There is potentially big money there. Pleasure horses. These are really nothing more than pets. Again, potentially more money.
Cattle, goats, sheep, etc. Not only is the money less but the opportunity to practice medicine is less. For example, if a goat is worth about $100, no one is going to sink $500 into treating it.Yet, it's very easy to run up $500 in veterinary fees. To stay below $100, the veterinarian is very limited in what he can do.We learn sophisticated procedures in vet school but,financial constraints prohibit us from using them when treating livestock. I want the opportunity to diagnose and treat disease. Small animal practice presents more of such opportunities. On the down side, lawsuits are definitely increasing in small animal practice. No one is going to sue if the veterinarian misdiagnoses a $100 goat.
Here is another consideration. Weather. Yes, Large animal practice is great in summer, but who wants to help birth lambs on cold dark February nights?
Your story failed to address the poultry veterinarian.
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