Dwindling large-animal veterinary access heightens food supply risk

Veterinarians are often the first line of defence to prevent and mitigate animal diseases or foreign animal disease outbreaks.

However, the increased number of veterinarians and graduates who migrate to companion animal practices could leave food animal practices in a precarious position when it comes to protecting the food supply. 

Why it matters: Ongoing animal and herd health care is critical to lowering the potential for animal disease outbreaks. 

Dr. Tye Perrett of Feedlot Health Management Services in Okotoks, Alta., is co-author of a paper, Impact of Recruitment and Retention of Food Animal Veterinarians on the U.S. Food Supply, published in April 2020. 

While much of the paper’s research was U.S-based, Perrett said the underlying considerations apply to the Canadian rural veterinarian’s role in ensuring animal health along the value chain of food animal supply. 

“They have an important role to play in animal disease detection and control programs to avoid animal disease outbreaks,” he said. 

“All of those tie into not only the food safety and secure food supply, but there’s a big economic and financial impact, the public’s confidence in the food supply and implications on trade restrictions.”

Perrett said the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy outbreak in 2003 highlighted the impact animal disease can have on trade and the role veterinarians play in reassuring the public, government and international bodies.

On May 20, 2003, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced a cow from northern Alberta had BSE. The U.S. immediately closed its borders to Canadian beef and cattle and about 40 other countries followed suit. 

By November 2004, Canadian cattle producers had lost an estimated $5 billion since the crisis began, and Statistics Canada reported that farm income fell to its lowest level in three years in part due to BSE. 

In the three years that followed, the Canadian government invested billions in financial support for the beef industry, and it took years for the industry to rebuild. 

In May 2021, 18 years after the initial outbreak, Canada finally achieved the World Health Organization’s lowest risk status for BSE, which is expected to expand access to international markets. 

Perrett said the cattle industry did recover over time, but he wonders how insufficient veterinary oversight in the early days of the outbreak would have extended the timeline. 

Veterinarians in the public sector work to ensure there are ways to avoid disease outbreaks and manage them if they occur.

With increased demand to feed a growing population with fewer animals on smaller tracts of land, Perrett wonders what role animal agriculture will play and what food animal veterinary medicine will be required to support the food animal industry. 

He said many producers are moving to areas with a more affordable land base, typically further from urban areas. That means it’s likely to be an underserved area from a veterinary medicine point of view.

“What are we in North America going to do as far as planning to have veterinarians there?” said Perrett. “Animal agriculture is going to go there with or without us.”