Farm vets?

[Andrew1983]

How are vet practices coping with recruitment in other areas? My wife is partner in our vets and they are having a hell of a job to recruit suitable large animal vets. With 2 older vets getting towards retirement it’s a scary prospect as they have been advertising for best part of a year and although they have had some applicants they are struggling to fill the gaps. Plenty small animal vets who want a 9-5.

A combination of the corporate world being more enticing and I think the biggest factor is young girls (80% of vet students) who have the grades to get into vet school soon realise it’s not the lifestyle for them once they have worked a couple years, they either leave to have families or just retrain as a dentist/doctor or any number of better paid alternatives where the patient doesn’t kick and sh!t on you [emoji85]

I have said for years that there should be some kind of degree for an agriculture veterinary technician. Highly trained in all aspects of farm animals but maybe only a 3-4 year course, with a slightly lower grade requirement to access it than a full veterinary degree. My wife has done several references for young lads with farming backgrounds who want to be a vet but they fall at the not quite getting the grades required to get into vet school.

The way vet practices are going it’s very much becoming a burden to have farm work on.

Thoughts please

 

[Timbo]

Local vet to me also struggling to recruit anyone of any caliber- as you say new ones only want to cuddle rabbits 9-5.

 

[Tim G]

Definitely a problem, all veterinary practices around here have given up farm animals, often giving the reason of no one wanting to do out of hours shifts (obviously other animals only need a vet between 9 and 5). It has resulted in one practice who only do farm animals taking on all the work and then having a bit of a monopoly on the job. I think a bit of competition would be good, but there isn't any and they know it.
Interesting point re male/female vet students. I visited the vet college at potters bar about 10 yrs ago and commented to the lecturer that it was very different to ag college which was mainly guys, the vet college was nothing but girls. She said then that boys didn't put the work in at school to get the grades needed to be a vet.

 

[Bob the beef]

Have to agree with @Andrew1983 . We used to get some really good vet students from the dick vet school at lambing time, male and female. Have stopped getting any now as the last two were absolutely useless. Both girls that sailed through private school with straight A results at higher. Clearly both very intelligent people, but zero interest or empathy with animals at all. Both admitted that they didn't want to be vets and were only interested in a career in the civil service.
Sadly they were both taking up places at the vet school that could have been given to someone with lesser grades that could be employed in the vet system afterwards.

 

[Dry Rot]

All the vets who come here (equine vets) seem to be from abroad. Had three Spaniards, a Canadian, and an Australia. The senior vet is English. Currently having a grumble at them because fees for castration have gone up 40% in two years (from £250 to £360). I was also charged for an assistant which I previous did myself or they had a student for who I was not charged.

I mentioned on here before that they've been taken over by a large company that owns a lot of practices. I can see the advantages of scale but also the dangers of monopolies for customers who are not moblle and usually a long way from services.

My uncle used to use a veterinary practitioner, I think they were called, but that was over 50 years ago. Not sure if he had any professional qualitifications but by all accounts he was a very good vet and was able to get the correct drugs.

I am a vet college reject and all I can say is thank God I got out when I did. No problem with the animals but I'd have ended up putting down a few of the owners!

 

[dt995]

I have said for years that there should be some kind of degree for an agriculture veterinary technician. Highly trained in all aspects of farm animals but maybe only a 3-4 year course, with a slightly lower grade requirement to access it than a full veterinary degree.

I know someone who is thinking about training to do TB testing. Not even a 3-4 year course required for that presumably.

 

[Will Wilson]

I think there is a lot more scope in the vet world for vet nurses or technical assistants to do more of the work - The institutions hate the idea I am sure as it has always been a closed shop.

 

[twizzel]

I think there is a lot more scope in the vet world for vet nurses or technical assistants to do more of the work - The institutions hate the idea I am sure as it has always been a closed shop.

Agree- vet nurses in small animal and technicians in large animal. Large animal seems to be shifting to preventative methods I.e vaccines that vet techs I guess can be more involved in administering leaving the more clinical work to the vets in the practice.

 

[Ducati899]

I know someone who is thinking about training to do TB testing. Not even a 3-4 year course required for that presumably.

Was told last week they’ll literally take anyone off the street now that applies to do tb blood testing by someone that already does the job,I find that slightly worrying if I’m honest

 

[Dr. Alkathene]

Was talking to a lecturer from vet uni who reckoned that out of roughly 110 to 130 vet students that graduate from the uni each year. Only between two and five go on to farm vet practices.

 

[Whitepeak]

Can’t really blame graduates for not wanting to go into large animal work. You spend 7yrs of your life amounting a huge amount of debt to then go and spend half your time in a cold wet farm yard with a grumpy farmer, getting plastered in shite doing TB testing with unpredictable and potentially dangerous half tonne animals! Doing a routine castration on mrs blogg’s moggy in a nice warm clean surgery sounds far more inviting.

Our vets seem far happier and less stressed now they’ve given up routine TB testing.

 

[Andrew1983]

I think there is a lot more scope in the vet world for vet nurses or technical assistants to do more of the work - The institutions hate the idea I am sure as it has always been a closed shop.

I think this is true, the guys who have spent 6 or 7 years to learn the trade don’t want to see anyone get in easy.

As a side note to someone saying only large animals get sick out of hours, my wife’s practice has gone over to the majority of out of hours calls being to pets, people are far quicker to call an demand them being seen nowadays as quite often it’s their insurance paying or they have googled the symptoms and are convinced their pet is on the way out. It’s quite interesting listening to my mrs on the phone to them trying to decide if they genuinely are a reason for a late call out or just someone who doesn’t want to take the morning off work to get there let seen. I guess many people just expect an A and E style 24 hour hospital for their pets which isn’t the case with this practice.

As farms get bigger an more specialist farmers have more knowledge of what’s wrong with their own stock and most carry a stock of drugs to cover fire brigade work, with the exceptions of calving and lambing time the vets don’t get just too many out of hours calls to farms. She did have to drive 2.5 hours (each way) up to the north west coast a few Sunday nights ago to pts a horse..... that’s the sort of call out that can crack a fragile new grad coupled with a busy day or 2 can have them throwing in the towel.

 

[Whitepeak]

All the vets who come here (equine vets) seem to be from abroad. Had three Spaniards, a Canadian, and an Australia. The senior vet is English.

One of the senior partners at our local practice is ‘a Dutchman, trained in Germany, practicing in Derbyshire!’ And the practice has just set on an American, he’s very good at routine fertility work. The rest of the staff are British including one Scot.

For our TB tests we were sent a Romanian, and also a nice lad from Northern Ireland.

 

[dt995]

James Herriot didn't want to be a farm vet, when he started out.

 

[dt995]

Was told last week they’ll literally take anyone off the street now that applies to do tb blood testing by someone that already does the job,I find that slightly worrying if I’m honest

Cool. What're they paying?

 

[Martyn]

Must also point out vets are paid a poor wage in comparison to other jobs with similar training. Farms are getting bigger the whole industry is contracting and it must be more a more difficult for the service sector. We are very lucky with a good range of farm vets in the southwest.

 

[Netherfield]

I took the dog to the vets this week, we were the last client of the morning, I've known him since he came to the practice, approaching 60 now. He says he he came here to get large animal work from doing a couple at a small animal practice. The practice here used to be morning 'til 11 and then farm visits, and then late aft/eve surgery 50/50 split. Now 80/20, they've branched out and bought a few retiring practices, which can now mean if on call they can be up to 30 miles from some clients. He went on to say that another practice in Barnsley were willing to sell their large animal work to them, which could have meant doubling that distance to travel, they did decline the offer, which also means as that practice winds down on large aniaml work some farmers will struggle to find a vet, matbe not for routine work, but certainly for out of hours.

 

[bluebell]

also james herriot was lucky to get a position after leaving vet college according to the books alot of vets at the time leaving vet college worked for board and lodgings? how times have changed? ive asked this a few times what is it that young people leaving education want to do as a job? almost every skill or profession is short of workers, from doctors to lorry drivers?

 

[Stewart Setter]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, today, I wish I had done agricultural and large animal veterinary studies rather than accountancy and IT.

 

[Dry Rot]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, today, I wish I had done agricultural and large animal veterinary studies rather than accountancy and IT.

Funny you should say that. I trained as a surveyor but I swear I am numerically dislectic (if there is such a thing). The law, on the other hand, has always fascinated me. I gather my grandfather's brother was quite a famous lawyer, but famous for defending 'the wrong side', whatever that might mean!