Tennessee study finds too few rural veterinarians; city kids can be large animal vets, too

We've been following the shortage of large-animal veterinarians in rural areas, most recently here. A new study from the University of Tennessee illustrates the gravity of the shortage. Of the 65 students who graduated from UT's vet school this spring just 29 percent indicated they were interested in a mixed large-animal practice that would include horses, cattle or other livestock, Morgan Simmons of the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. "Tennessee's animal-based agriculture accounts for half of the state's $2 billion agricultural economy," Simmons writes. The heavy reliance on livestock led the state legislature to commission the study from UT's Institute of Agriculture.

"While rural vet services appeared to be adequate in areas of the state with large cattle operations, 27 Tennessee counties were found to have two, or fewer, veterinarians," Simmons writes. "The study noted that smaller producers across the state -- those with 20 to 22 cows -- were likely to treat their animals themselves rather than cut into their narrow profit margin by hiring a vet." Sevier County farmer Jack McMahan explained: "Good rural vets are getting scarce," he said. "Nowadays, it seems like everybody wants to doctor dogs and cats."

Part of the shortage may be due to a misconception that only students who grew up on farms are qualified to deal with large animals. "There's a belief that we need more farm kids, that only kids who that grew up on farms are qualified to be food animal vets," Brian Whitlock, assistant professor in the UT vet school's Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, told Simmons. "That's a misconception. Less than 1 percent of the population is from a farm background. If that's the only pool we draw from, we're going to see a severe shortage of rural vets." The study revealed just 12 percent of UT vet school's Class of 2011 comes from small towns with populations less than 1,000. (Read more)