“I’m happiest behind a cow,” is the phrase I always hear when my dad is asked about retiring from veterinary life. Though his days have become filled with small animal medicine, his favorite calls always see him driving in the vet truck to work on the small farms and ranches nearby. But for him and many veterinarians the cows don’t pay the bills, and farmers and ranchers are facing a severe shortage.
When your average veterinary student loan debt is $185,486 (veterinary college only) and the average starting salary in the U.S. is $125,416 for an independent private practitioner, the math is tricky. The opportunity cost of forgone income in a different career is also high with four years of undergraduate and 4 years of veterinary school, not to mention any additional education and cost it took to qualify for vet school like a Master’s or PhD. Veterinarians who prefer to work with large animals should also expect a 13% to 20% cut in their salary.
Idaho, along with many other agricultural states is facing a shortage of veterinarians. But not just any veterinarians, large animal veterinarians. These vets need to be willing to get kicked, stepped on, end the day covered in muck, and be willing to wake in the middle of the night to pull a calf or stitch up a prized bull. However, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association, the shortage is overblown and the current capacity of veterinary colleges will meet or exceed the market needs.
John Volke, senior analyst with Brakke Consulting provided a report to the AVMA stating, “Certainly, given the circumstances we’ve seen in last 20 years, if we add 50% more vet schools over a 10-year period, going from 30 to 46, then demand either has to grow at a similar pace or it will have a depressing effect on prices and wages.”
But the cost of veterinary care indicates that a shortage exists when the price of veterinary care has risen over 60 percent in the past decade and outpaced inflation and health care costs. In the last two decades, this cost has increased 149 percent, largely driven by corporate acquisition of many veterinary practices.
For large animal practices, the price increase is the least of the worries when large animal veterinarians are difficult to find and critical to conducting business. Large animal owners need veterinarians to fill out paperwork and conduct exams to move livestock across state borders, assist in documenting reproductive records, and vaccinating large numbers of animals with market-required vaccines. In all of Idaho, about 90% of a required large animal vaccination (brucellosis) is given by about 50 vets. Only about 10% of students want to work with large animals, and the existing veterinarians are aging out.
The recent move to encourage a partnership between Idaho colleges and the new Utah State University veterinary school isn’t the only policy opportunity Idaho should consider. Idaho pet owners and large animal producers should support licensing opportunities beyond a full-scale veterinary practitioner.
Consider the human medical field where various needs can be met by physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, chiropractors, ultrasound technicians, etc. Veterinary medicine has much less flexibility with a drastic jump in qualifications between a certified veterinary technician (2-year degree with an average salary of $44,040) and a veterinarian (8-year degree, $125,416 salary). Additionally, vet techs stay in the career for only about seven years because of poor salaries and a lack of growth opportunities in the industry.
Veterinary medicine needs mid-level practitioners to meet the growing needs of pet owners and agriculture. Colorado voters recognized this in November and passed Proposition 129 with 52.3% in favor, which establishes a career pathway for a ‘Veterinary Professional Associate.’ The new Veterinary PA will “provide quality, routine medical care, more pets can be treated – reducing the burden on existing veterinary staff and allowing veterinarians to focus on more complex diagnostics and procedures.” The AVMA, however, is staunchly opposed and very disappointed over this fracture in their monopoly.
Livestock producers also need technicians certified in large animal skills that can function independently of the rare, large animal veterinarian. For example, ultrasound technicians could perform pregnancy diagnostics on herds without needing a veterinarian present and some laymen can do pregnancy checks through a rectal examination in cattle (non-veterinarians can legally perform pregnancy checks in some states and ultrasound pregnancy checks are legal in England, but illegal in Idaho.)
One advocate of training laymen for routine veterinary tasks believes ultrasound technicians will succeed or fail in their work quality just like hoof trimmers and others providing services to dairies and ranches. Certifications should also be allowed for vaccinations and bloodwork, just like pharmacy techs and phlebotomists exist in human medicine.
Veterinary medicine can be a beautiful career, but you would be kidding yourself to believe most practitioners have a career like James Herriot. My dad is one of the lucky ones, who thrives on cold, wet, sleepless nights when he has saved another animal. However, most veterinarians have very little desire to provide this care to those whose livelihoods depend on certain tasks.
Idaho policy needs to recognize the monopoly veterinary medicine has on large animal services and begin opening the door to laymen who are willing to learn and become certified so they can meet the demand of large animal owners, leaving time for the 50 large animal veterinarians in Idaho to address the high-qualification, complex needs.