COLUMBUS, Ohio – There’s big money to be made these days in treating cats, dogs, even birds. Perhaps not so much with pigs and cattle. But pet owners could ultimately be asked to pay for combating the growing shortage of rural veterinarians trained in the health and welfare of livestock.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a possible national shortage of 15,000 veterinarians by 2025 is projected, with the bulk of those to be needed in rural areas.

“Becoming a vet today is extremely expensive amid rising tuition rates and limited state funding for veterinary colleges,” said Ericka Yeley, a University of Illinois graduate and veterinarian with Marshall’s Animal Care Clinic in Clark County.

“The job opportunities that pay more are the ones in the cities, doing small animal work,” Yeley said. “There are large animal jobs out there, but the hours are longer, you’re on emergency calls and you have to work harder for the same amount of money you’d get working in the suburbs of Chicago on dogs and cats.”

The problem has been ongoing in Iowa for the past five years. Rural Iowa communities have witnessed the shortage of food animal veterinarians.

“During my tenure I received many phone calls from food animal veterinarians who all told me a familiar story, that their practices were having trouble hiring,” former Iowa State Veterinarian Dr. David Schmitt wrote in an opinion piece last year in the Des Moines Register. “No matter their recruitment efforts, they simply couldn’t find veterinarians who wanted to work with food animals in rural areas. There simply aren’t enough food animal vets, leaving livestock without timely access to preventive care and vulnerable to dangerous diseases that can wipe out herds and flocks.”

According to the Ohio Department of Agriculture, there is a shortage of mixed animal and farm animal veterinarians across the country for two reasons – unpredictable hours and the need to live in rural areas. Add to that the cost of education involved. Students of veterinary schools in the late 1960s, for instance, had less than a few thousand dollars’ worth of college debt. The average vet these days faces more than $100,000 in post-graduation obligations.

Market research statistics from the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) show that only 10 percent of veterinarians employed in private clinical practice work predominantly or exclusively with food animals. This shortage affects 44 states. In fact, the USDA reports that nearly 500 U.S. counties are underserved by veterinary care, mostly affecting rural areas.

The shift is nothing new, according to AVMA statistics. Since 1998, the number of small animal veterinarians has been on the rise, with the number of farm animal veterinarians on the decline. The shortage is becoming more critical as many professionals approach retirement age and fewer students choose to pursue larger or mixed animal practice.

Yeley, Schmitt and others agree that the salary disparity between rural mixed animal practices and metro companion animal clinics remains a large factor. Rural practices also require more on-call hours, limiting the work-life balance that is high on the list of younger professionals.

According to a June 2019 article in Successful Farming, other factors have contributed to the decline, such as:

· High student loan rate (student debt at graduation averages $143,000).

· Decreased interest in practice ownership due to large upfront investment.

· Changes in the agricultural industry such as cattle herd consolidation and larger farm operations.

· Fewer veterinary students come from farming or rural backgrounds.

· Mixed animal practice positions are harder to find.

Many things are being done to address the veterinarian shortage in the rural sector. The USDA offers the Veterinary Services Grant Program, designed to support education and extension activities. So far, more than $2 million in grants have been awarded.

The Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges offer a list of academic institutions that strive to encourage more graduates to enter food animal medicine. Participating universities with incentive programs in the Farm World readership area include Iowa State, Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue and Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Several states also offer loan repayment programs, including Illinois, Kentucky and Ohio.