In a state where livestock is a $7 billion industry, Iowa is facing a shortage of large-animal veterinarians.

At least 120 additional food-animal veterinarians will be needed in the next five years to replace retiring veterinarians and accommodate areas of growth within the livestock industry, said Patrick Halbur, interim associate dean of veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Food-animal practitioners are essential to the livestock industry in Iowa, Halbur said, because they help maintain food production.

He said the shortage of large-animal vets is occurring because fewer students from rural areas are entering veterinary colleges.

Halbur said there is also a fair amount of consolidation within the livestock industry.

“As far as I can tell, there are fewer people interested in becoming large-animal vets because there are fewer people coming from rural areas and more who are interested in companion or small-animal practices,” said LeAnn Bouska, sophomore in veterinary medicine.

According to a 2003 survey conducted by Iowa State and the Iowa Veterinary Medical Association, the No. 1 reason for difficulty in hiring food-animal vets is the decreased supply of new graduates with food-animal interest.

Yet, although there is a shortage of rural veterinarians, Iowa State continues to produce more graduates in the field.

“Iowa State University produces more veterinarian graduates that go into food-animal or mixed-animal practices than any other veterinary college in North America,” Halbur said.

He said there is a tremendous demand for Iowa State’s graduates across the United States because many other colleges produce fewer graduates and not every state has a veterinary college.

Wayne Haidsiak, ISU alumnus, said this high demand for veterinarians makes it difficult to fill positions in rural areas. He is one of two veterinarians in practice at Tri-County Veterinary Services in southwest Iowa.

Haidsiak is not alone in finding it difficult to fill the position of a large-animal veterinarian.

According to the survey, 81 percent of veterinarians anticipate they will have difficulty in hiring someone to practice food-animal medicine.

The biggest disadvantage of becoming a large-animal veterinarian is the unstable farm economy, Halbur said.

Other disadvantages include financial compensation, physical demands and health risks, time demands and social isolation, according to the survey.

There is definitely a demanding push in the veterinary business and a lot of people do not want to put in the extra hours, Haidsiak said.

“It’s not uncommon for me to put in 40 to 50-plus hours in three days,” he said.

In order to reverse the number of declining large-animal vets, a group of 75 students at the College of Veterinary Medicine formed the Veterinary Student Mixed Animal Recruitment Team.

The goal of the team, which began in the summer of 2004, is to promote the benefits associated with becoming a mixed-animal vet by traveling around to schools and rural communities and giving presentations, said Bouska, president of the recruitment team.

Youth who are interested in a possible career in veterinary medicine are encouraged by team members to share real-life experiences with veterinarians, like riding around with a veterinarian for a day or working for a vet for a summer, Bouska said.

“Living on a farm, working with my hometown veterinarians and being interested in science and medicine are all reasons I have focused on a career in veterinary medicine,” said Jacque Baker, sophomore in pre-veterinary animal science.

Despite the shortage of rural vets, the survey indicates that rural vets are satisfied with their career choices, Halbur said.

Haidsiak said the best part of his job is getting to work with the people and develop relationships.

“I turned down a job at Iowa State to live and work in a rural area,” Haidsiak said. “It’s why I’m here.”