Shortage of Food Animals Vets a Crisis

February 7, 2007 — 

The American Veterinary Medical Association's (AVMA) president Dr. Roger Mahr has called the current and pending shortage of food animal veterinarians a "crisis".

The AVMA was cited as saying that since 1990, the number of veterinarians focusing on large animals has dropped to fewer than 4,500 from nearly 6,000, and that those doctors now made up less than 10 percent of private-practice veterinarians. A recent study predicted that by 2016, 4 out of every 100 food-animal veterinary jobs would go unfilled.

Dr. Mahr noted that this shortage could have severe consequences for the well-being of food animals but also potential food safety and public health concerns. He noted that, "of all the emerging diseases in people in the last 25 years, 75 percent of those were transmitted from animals. Veterinarians are the ones to identify those diseases in animals first."

Veterinary students today are graduating with student loans in excess of $100,000. A study by the association found the median starting salary of large-animal veterinarians to be $60,500, $11,000 less than that of small-animal veterinarians. For veterinarians practicing 25 years, the gap was even wider: $98,500 for large-animal practitioners, $122, 500 for small. In addition, fewer students and faculty come from an agricultural background. Estimates are that most Americans today are at least 3 generations removed from the farm. For these reasons, it is difficult to attract veterinary students to food animal practice.

To help address this situation, the AVMA has proposed legislation to encourage veterinarians to practice in underserved areas and to increase the number of food supply veterinarians graduating each year. In 2004, congress passed the National Veterinary Medical Services Act which provides repayment of student loans for veterinarians agreeing to practice in selected areas. Unfortunately, the law has never been adequately funded. AVMA estimates the cost to be $60 million over 3 years. Since its passage, Congress has appropriated less than $1 million.

Legislation, called the Veterinary Workforce Expansion Act, to increase funding to support additional resources to educate more food animal veterinarians is currently being proposed by AVMA but faces an uphill battle given the current budgetary constraints.