A popular western notion contends that there is a shortage of veterinarians interested in food animal practice.
Is it true?
The answer might surprise many people, as it did Murray Jelinski, Alberta beef chair at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan.
Practising veterinarians reported that at the time of graduation, 48 percent intended to practise both food and companion animal practice and another 16 percent wanted to exclusively practise food animal medicine.
Jelinski and his associate John Campbell began surveys in Western Canada last winter to better understand the factors influencing veterinarians’ career paths. While the researchers are still analyzing the data, some interesting pictures are emerging.
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One project surveyed 550 of Western Canada’s 2,500 vets. The researchers got a response rate of about 78 percent.
At the time of graduation, 48 percent of the respondents said they intended to enter mixed animal practice, while 33 percent said they wanted companion animal practice.
But when asked what animal work they were doing, the numbers were different.
Only 22 percent practise mixed animal medicine compared to 57 percent who reported working exclusively on companion animals.
The implication is that many vets who want to work with food animals end up working with pets.
Some people in industry, small towns and vet colleges think vets leave food animal practice because colleges pick the wrong kind of students, or are too female biased or urban biased, Jelinski said.
“I don’t believe that’s true, because this survey is a collection of people across many generations,” he said.
The data from the survey suggests that many vets are interested in food animal practice, but something happens after graduation.
“It’s not an issue of enthusing them to go into food animal practice, it’s an issue of retention,” he said.
Some vets may leave food animal practice due to a lack of demand, said Jelinski, citing a shrinking rural economy.
Further studies will focus on economic factors that might influence veterinarians’ career choices.
In a different survey, 67 of 70 graduating students answered an on-line questionnaire.
The responses indicate the most important factor in determining a career in mixed animal practice is whether the individuals have an agriculture degree. A graduate with a BSc in agriculture is 4.5 times more likely to enter mixed animal practice.
“It is the one factor that is most predictive of where they’re going to go,” Jelinski said.
The second factor was whether the graduate was raised in a rural setting. These graduates are 3.4 times more likely to go into mixed animal practice.
“Of all the things we looked at, those were the only two factors that were statistically significant,” he said.
While the veterinarian field is dominated by women (85 percent of grads are female), gender does not seem to factor into the different careers open to vets.
“Contrary to what everybody thinks, gender is not a good predictor of who will end up going into food animal practice at the time of graduation,” Jelinski said.
The Alberta beef chair was established through a $1.5 million grant by the Alberta government as a means of encouraging veterinarians to consider a career in beef cattle practice.
