Alberta cattle producers hope a $500,000 contribution toward the creation of a beef chair at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine will increase the number of students wanting to practice large animal medicine.
For five years, cattle producers have passed resolutions at the Alberta Cattle Commission annual meeting to find ways of encouraging veterinarians to practice in rural areas, said ACC general manager Gary Sargent.
Officials with the vet college and cattle commission hope the creation of the academic chair in beef cattle health and production management in Saskatoon will create excitement around large animal medicine.
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Reuben Mapletoft, head of the college’s large animal clinical studies department, said he sees the beef chair spending more time taking students on field trips to feedlots, visiting rural veterinarians and helping solve problems than lecturing in a classroom.
There are 872 veterinarians in Alberta. About half get most of their income from large animal practices. There are 11 large animal positions vacant in Alberta. It’s estimated 15 graduates a year are needed to fill the large animal practice vacancies in Alberta.
“We’ve got to increase the number of graduates who are seeing this as a choice,” Mapletoft said.
Although this is a new initiative, Alex Livingston, dean of the college, feels other universities have been successful in creating interest in a field by establishing a chair.
The $500,000 donation from the Alberta Cattle Commission follows the announcement in January by Alberta learning minister Lyle Oberg of a $1.5 million donation toward the chair.
The college hopes to raise $3 million in support for the chair to allow the position to exist in perpetuity.
