By Jennifer Dorsett
Field Editor

A lack of incoming rural veterinarians in Texas prompted Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service to create a rural veterinarian network.

The project, Improving the Sustainability of Rural Veterinarians through Mentoring, Targeted Education, Telemedicine and Monitoring of Disease Syndromes, was made possible through a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food & Agriculture grant.

The need for more rural veterinarians is in part due to generational factors, according to Tom Hairgrove, DVM, an AgriLife Extension Service cattle veterinary specialist who will lead the network project. He said many rural large animal practices are owned and operated by older veterinarians, and younger veterinarians are not stepping in to take over those practices because pet care is more profitable. This leaves farmers, ranchers and other livestock owners with dwindling choices for large animal care.

“We know livestock enterprises are major contributors to rural communities,” Hairgrove said in an interview with AgriLife Today. “We want to improve the communication and cooperation between the livestock industry and the veterinary profession to ultimately improve livestock health and economic sustainability for rural communities.”

Under the new project, AgriLife hopes to shift the large animal care approach from reactionary, where issues are treated as they arise and often require emergency attention, to comprehensive herd health practices that may help prevent disease.

“Veterinarians responding in a ‘fire engine’ manner simply is no longer practical. We need livestock producers to realize that veterinarians can contribute more to their operation profits if a comprehensive health management program is developed,” Hairgrove said. “We believe if we can change producer mindset to one of ‘complete herd health’ instead of only calling the vet to periodically pull a calf, it will be good not only for the veterinarian and the economics of the rural communities but to the producer’s bottom line, as well.”

Faculty from various other areas of expertise, including AgriLife Extension Livestock Specialist Ron Gill, also will be working on the project.

“We know veterinarians can make producers money by helping them develop vaccination programs and by working with them to outline nutrition programs to improve their calving and weaning rates,” Gill said. “But if ranchers do not engage with and employ the services of rural veterinarians, the vet practice will not be sustainable, and the producers won’t realize that additional benefit.”

Although loan forgiveness programs exist to encourage new veterinarians to move to rural areas, Hairgrove noted many of those will spend the required three years in a rural area before moving on.

He attributed the transient nature of these early career veterinarians to a lack of community support, saying they often practice in isolation and don’t have enough communication with other veterinary professionals.

But the AgriLife network could help by establishing a mentor program to connect early career veterinarians with experienced practitioners. Virtual monthly meetings focusing on different veterinary cases and using telemedicine to bring diagnostic expertise to each clinic can help ease feelings of isolation and stress.

Another focus of the program is to help prepare new veterinarians for the wide variety of diseases and complications they may see through a disease syndrome surveillance program. Veterinarians will use a phone app to gather information for a central database, and the database will use artificial intelligence to pick up on common issues and provide feedback to veterinarians.

AgriLife will work with the Texas Animal Health Commission and various livestock organizations in Texas and New Mexico throughout the project, which Hairgrove said will enable the network to see disease patterns early in the process.

The combination of networking, mentorship, continuing education and disease surveillance will help young veterinarians create comprehensive herd management programs, he added.

“This program will require collaboration among those involved in veterinary medicine, animal science, animal behavior, agriculture economics and ecosystems management,” Hairgrove said. “And the use of telemedicine within the context of a valid veterinarian-client-patient relationship will be essential for the efficient delivery of leading-edge veterinary services to rural communities.”