PADUCAH, Ky. (AP) - Despite a state-funded program to help veterinary students pay $6,000 in student loans, west Kentucky specialists doubt there will be an increase in the number of veterinarians specializing in large or food animals in the area.
The program will help students repay their loans if they
"mostly" practice large- or food-animal medicine, according to a
Kentucky Department of Agriculture release.
"This area is well-covered in terms of food-animal
veterinarians," said Kenny Perry, Graves County agriculture
extension agent. Perry said that the eight food-animal
veterinarians in the Purchase area were enough to meet farmers'
needs.
"This is basic economics," said Buddy Ray, 57, a veterinarian
at Mayfield Veterinary Clinic. "There isn't enough livestock
within the area to generate the revenue to maintain an office."
Ray began his veterinary practice as a large-animal specialist
33 years ago. But, as the region has become less agricultural and
more suburban, more of his practice focuses on small animals and
family pets. Ray said it was less profitable to travel and visit
with a farm animal than it would be to meet with two or three pet
owners at his clinic.
Paducah veterinarian Eugene Ceglinski has a similar story. He
ceased leaving his office to tend to farm animals several years
ago. Still, he sees the program as something worthwhile.
"That would be an enticement, I would think, for someone
wanting to treat those types of animals. It's similar to how
physicians are drawn to set up practices in smaller towns,"
Ceglinski said. "I think really, though, it depends on where the
person is from. If you're from a farm and have dealt with those
types of animals for most of your life, you'd probably want to keep
dealing with those because you're so familiar with them."
Ray and Ceglinski's shift from food animals to family pets is
similar to a national trend, according to data provided by the
American Veterinary Medical Association and the U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics.
About 70 percent of accredited veterinarians focus on family
pets, the bureau said. Another 25 percent of vets care for family
pets and food animals. A very small number of the remaining
graduates become food-animal specialists.
And practicing food-animal specialists, such as Ray, will
approach retirement age within the next 15 years, Perry said. Of
the eight area food-animal veterinarians, Perry said that six of
them are at least 50 years old.
The predicted shortage of food-animal veterinarians by 2016
could create new risks for the country's food supply, said David
Kirkpatrick, an AVMA spokesman.
"Food-animal specialists maintain the quality of the food
supply by preventing illness in animals," Kirkpatrick said, "And
by researching how illnesses transfer (between animals and
humans)."
The large financial burden of earning a veterinary degree, Ray
said, is one reason recent graduates prefer working with pets
instead of farm animals.
"The average vet graduates with $100,000 to $150,000 of
educational debt," Ray said, "so they have to consider whether to
take a $75,000 Louisville job working on pets or a $50,000 job
dealing with a beef cow." Ray does not believe that $6,000 of loan
repayment help would spark interest among young veterinarians.
It is more dangerous to work on a large animal at a ranch than
on a small animal inside a clinic, Ray said. "There's a good
chance that I could get kicked by an injured or scared animal at
the end of a rope," Ray said.
Ray could safely work on the farm animal - if the farmer could
bring it to the clinic - by using hydraulic fencing to immobilize
it.
Graduates also consider the different lifestyles when choosing a
veterinary career, Kirkpatrick said.
"Fewer people are growing up on farms so they are less
interested in working in rural areas," Kirkpatrick said.
Other states - such as Illinois - offer $20,000 loan repayment
incentives to young veterinarians, Kirkpatrick said, but "anything
states can do to encourage young veterinarians to become
food-animal specialists is great."
Ray does maintain a food-animal consulting service. But that,
primarily for out-of-state clients, is conducted over the phone,
and requires the client to have a little bit of medical training.
"Instead of traveling to (an out-of-state client) to deliver a
calf, I walk them through the process over the phone," Ray said.

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Information from: The Paducah Sun, http://www.paducahsun.com

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

AP-NY-10-31-09 1826EDT