Celebrating the role of agricultural education in our schools

The eighth annual National Teach Ag Day will be celebrated on Thursday, September 20. Sponsored by the National Association of Agricultural Educators, agricultural education plays an important role in schools and communities.

National Teach Ag Day is designed to encourage agricultural education and to recognize the important role that agriculture teachers play in schools and communities. As a veterinarian, what role has agricultural education played in your practice? Are the majority of veterinary school graduates focusing on companion animal practice, or is there an equal balance among companion, large animal and equine practitioners?

In 2010, the U.S. Department of Agriculture determined that almost two-thirds of the nation’s veterinarians practiced exclusively on companion animals. The Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) has nearly 30 accredited schools in the U.S. All agree that there has been a recent gender shift between men and women in the field. In 2017, market research showed that of the nearly 110,000 employed veterinarians, more than 43,000 are men and women close the gap with more than 66,000. But that doesn’t explain the shortage in large animal vets. Where did they go? Let’s take a look.

Why is there is a shortage of large animal veterinarians?

Lack of large animal vets means it takes longer for a vet to reach rural farms and ranches. In an emergency, like delivering a breech calf, this could mean the difference between life and death. Here are some clues as to why:

• The unmet need for equine and food animal practices continues to be a problem as current practicing vets age and retire and new graduating students do not replace them.
• An increasing number of veterinary school grads prefer more lucrative companion animal practices to pay off the vast amount of student loans sooner. Companion animal practitioners can treat more animals per day than as a rural vet making longer trips between farms to reach clients. Appointments are more spread out and fewer patients can be seen per day.
• Cattle producers in Mississippi suggest that fewer people raise agricultural animals than in previous generations. The growth of population means the growth of urban areas and less agriculture.
• Growing debt is not the only issue after veterinary school. Lower or stagnant salaries, added to the increased cost of education, enrollment capacity in veterinary schools and the cost of medical technology, all are contributing factors for lack of large animal vets.
• The downturn of the economy means people who own animals are less like to spend large amounts on veterinary care, relying instead on their own knowledge or people raising the same types of animals.
• There is still a gap in state and federally supported funding for vet education with an increased need for healthy food/animals in order to protect the country against bio- and agro-terrorism, along with disease that can affect human health.

Covetrus wishes you a happy National Teach Ag Day and reminds you to thank your local large animal veterinarians and encourage students who are exploring this field.

For more information, contact your Covetrus representative at 855.724.3461 or online.

Sources

https://www.naae.org/teachag/teachag_day.cfm

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/veterinarians.htm

https://work.chron.com/information-becoming-largeanimal-vet-13844.html

https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/Statistics/Pages/Market-research-statistics-US-veterinarians.aspx

https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2015/06/21/veterinarians-large-animals-short-supply/29071741/

https://www.npr.org/2018/07/23/631626858/shortage-of-large-animal-vets-leaves-markets-vulnerable-to-disease-outbreaks

https://www.ucop.edu/uc-health/_files/vet-med-an-era-of-change.pdf