Harrison
February 7th, 2008, 3:42 pm
U.P. facing shortage of large animal vets
By JOHN PEPIN, Journal Staff Writer and the Associated Press
MARQUETTE — More than half of the state’s large animal veterinarians are approaching retirement and they are not being replaced, according to the Michigan Veterinary Medical Association.
The looming shortage concerns the field’s experts, who said that could mean fewer people monitoring and treating animals for diseases that affect food quality.
The shortage is being felt statewide, including in the Upper Peninsula.
“Yes, we have a shortage of practicing large animal vets in the U.P. There is an especially tough situation in the northwest part of the U.P., including Ontonagon County and much of the Copper Country,” said Jim Isleib, director of the Michigan State University Extension Service in Alger County. “Some local vets are making very long drives to service farms. The areas where farms are widely scattered and cattle numbers are low have the worst time getting veterinary services, and that describes most of the U.P.”
Ben Bartlett, a dairy and livestock agent with the MSU Experiment Station in Chatham, said the shortage is a reality and is happening because of changes in farming.
“Every change has good and bad sides,” Bartlett said. “The good side: Farmers (including U.P. farmers) have become much more efficient. The bad side: Because of this, farms have become fewer, bigger, farther apart, and the value of individual animals has not kept up with the cost of vet and other services. So services (including vet) are more challenging to deliver because of the distance between farms, rising transportation costs, etcetera.”
Bartlett said vets are tending to group more distant farms into geographical areas so they can service a group of customers in the area all in one day.
“This cooperation is reminiscent of the way farmers used to cooperate in the ‘old days,’” Bartlett said. “And farmers are doing more of the routine, preventative animal health care work (vaccinations, etcetera) themselves instead of vets having to do it. This results in somewhat less treatment needed from vets for problems.”
It’s already hard for Michigan Department of Agriculture officials to find vets to monitor cattle herds for bovine tuberculosis, State Veterinarian Steve Halstead told the Battle Creek Enquirer for a story.
Halstead said deer carry the disease and can infect cattle through shared water supplies. Humans who drink the milk or eat the meat of infected animals also can contract the potentially deadly disease.
State officials said last week a deer recently harvested in Shiawassee County is suspected of carrying the disease. They are awaiting final test results.
The county is well outside the part of the state where the disease had been concentrated. A hunter killed the deer more than 100 miles south of the TB Zone in the northern Lower Peninsula, where authorities have tried to contain the outbreak since the late 1990s.
Meanwhile, the state has declared two sections of Iosco County as ‘‘potential high-risk areas’’ after bovine TB was confirmed in a couple of deer there.
Halstead said the disease is under control, but a vet shortage might mean less monitoring and a greater threat to people.
‘‘We need to consider, should we allow testing by nonveterinarians — technicians? To this point, we have not felt that was appropriate,’’ he said. ‘‘A medical professional needs to do it.’’
Jim Lloyd, associate dean at Michigan State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, said most of the 100 yearly graduates want to work with pets instead of food animals.
Among the reasons: Large animal work is physically demanding and has a reputation for being less lucrative, though an American Veterinary Medical Association study in 2002 found the mean earnings for specialists in either field were about $84,000 a year.
By JOHN PEPIN, Journal Staff Writer and the Associated Press
MARQUETTE — More than half of the state’s large animal veterinarians are approaching retirement and they are not being replaced, according to the Michigan Veterinary Medical Association.
The looming shortage concerns the field’s experts, who said that could mean fewer people monitoring and treating animals for diseases that affect food quality.
The shortage is being felt statewide, including in the Upper Peninsula.
“Yes, we have a shortage of practicing large animal vets in the U.P. There is an especially tough situation in the northwest part of the U.P., including Ontonagon County and much of the Copper Country,” said Jim Isleib, director of the Michigan State University Extension Service in Alger County. “Some local vets are making very long drives to service farms. The areas where farms are widely scattered and cattle numbers are low have the worst time getting veterinary services, and that describes most of the U.P.”
Ben Bartlett, a dairy and livestock agent with the MSU Experiment Station in Chatham, said the shortage is a reality and is happening because of changes in farming.
“Every change has good and bad sides,” Bartlett said. “The good side: Farmers (including U.P. farmers) have become much more efficient. The bad side: Because of this, farms have become fewer, bigger, farther apart, and the value of individual animals has not kept up with the cost of vet and other services. So services (including vet) are more challenging to deliver because of the distance between farms, rising transportation costs, etcetera.”
Bartlett said vets are tending to group more distant farms into geographical areas so they can service a group of customers in the area all in one day.
“This cooperation is reminiscent of the way farmers used to cooperate in the ‘old days,’” Bartlett said. “And farmers are doing more of the routine, preventative animal health care work (vaccinations, etcetera) themselves instead of vets having to do it. This results in somewhat less treatment needed from vets for problems.”
It’s already hard for Michigan Department of Agriculture officials to find vets to monitor cattle herds for bovine tuberculosis, State Veterinarian Steve Halstead told the Battle Creek Enquirer for a story.
Halstead said deer carry the disease and can infect cattle through shared water supplies. Humans who drink the milk or eat the meat of infected animals also can contract the potentially deadly disease.
State officials said last week a deer recently harvested in Shiawassee County is suspected of carrying the disease. They are awaiting final test results.
The county is well outside the part of the state where the disease had been concentrated. A hunter killed the deer more than 100 miles south of the TB Zone in the northern Lower Peninsula, where authorities have tried to contain the outbreak since the late 1990s.
Meanwhile, the state has declared two sections of Iosco County as ‘‘potential high-risk areas’’ after bovine TB was confirmed in a couple of deer there.
Halstead said the disease is under control, but a vet shortage might mean less monitoring and a greater threat to people.
‘‘We need to consider, should we allow testing by nonveterinarians — technicians? To this point, we have not felt that was appropriate,’’ he said. ‘‘A medical professional needs to do it.’’
Jim Lloyd, associate dean at Michigan State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, said most of the 100 yearly graduates want to work with pets instead of food animals.
Among the reasons: Large animal work is physically demanding and has a reputation for being less lucrative, though an American Veterinary Medical Association study in 2002 found the mean earnings for specialists in either field were about $84,000 a year.