With the end of the one-person, rural veterinary practice looming, livestock producers face fundamental changes in how they do business.
While some municipalities in Saskatchewan are working together to attract rural veterinarians by buying buildings, offering salaries or providing new equipment, there are still vast areas that will be without local veterinary services.
Curt Hagele of the Saskatchewan Veterinary Medical Association says livestock producers of the future will be forced to reassess the role veterinarians play in their operations.
Some producers will pay more for vet services and may be forced to reconsider their production methods given the proximity of the closest veterinarian.
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Some producers are already making those changes.
Brian Weedon raises 300 calves annually on ranges bordering the Great Sand Hills in southwestern Saskatchewan.
“We changed the way we raise our cattle,” Weedon said.
“We did it because it was profitable and a better way to raise livestock … it drastically changes the way we work with our vet too.”
The Cabri, Sask., rancher pays a per head fee to his veterinarian. That retainer allows the vet to be sure of his income. It also encourages the vet to work closely with Weedon to reduce the amount of “fire engine medicine” that is necessary.
Weedon had “zero mortality” while his cattle were in the feedlot this year, and a low three percent disease rate. The provincial averages are two percent and 15 percent.
Weedon uses his vet for pregnancy testing, nutrition advice, medication and genetics. Last year, 97 percent of his cows and heifers were pregnant.
Weedon also uses the vet to plan calving operations.
“There are some (cattle producers) that still resist paying for advice. That advice saves money but mainly my time,” he said.
“Time is the most expensive commodity we have as ranchers. I want the best advice I can buy. Try going down to your lawyer’s office for some free advice.”
Making changes to the way he pays and works with his vet added $2,500 annually to Weedon’s $9,500 vet bill. But the rancher estimates that paying for preventive services saved him $10,000 last year.
“It pays to use them, and use them right, if you want to stick around in this business. You have to respect them as professionals that have a lot to offer the livestock producer,” he said.
Denis Fuglerud keeps 250 head of cattle near Outlook, Sask., and serves as a member on the SVMA board of directors.
He says livestock producers should view their vet as a partner in the business rather than a “cow mechanic that comes to the farm to fix broken animals.”
He said vets in the future will work together in larger practices and will travel farther to visit their clients.
“There will be more specialists working in the same practice. Producers will have to get together to arrange to have preg checking and other work done. Vets will visit two or three farms on the same trip. There will need to be a lot more planning, but some of us are doing it this way already,” he said.
