by Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer
I’m pleased to announce the launch of a program aimed at encouraging new veterinarians, vet technicians and technologists to enter large/food animal veterinary practices.
The Kentucky Large/Food Animal Veterinary Incentive Program is accepting applications through Dec. 1 to repay up to $6,000 a year of outstanding student loans of eligible applicants who work in a practice that does mostly large/food animal medicine.
This program is very important to Kentucky’s animal agriculture industry and our food supply. There are about 1,400 accredited veterinarians in Kentucky, but only 235 work with large animals, and 56 of them – nearly 24 percent – are more than 60 years old. Many of those 56 are retired or practicing on a limited basis. Some 40 Kentucky counties do not have a veterinarian to tend to cattle, horses or other farm animals.
Veterinarians today tend to have less farm experience and interest than those of 30 years ago. Increasingly, veterinary school graduates tend to enter more lucrative small-animal practices in cities. Large-animal veterinarians are leaving their practices faster than they can be replaced.
Livestock account for about $3 billion a year in farm cash receipts, so it’s important to Kentucky’s economy that we have enough vets to keep all of our animals healthy and help authorities maintain surveillance for foreign animal disease.
A survey of recent veterinary school graduates in large/food-animal practices found that 93 percent were proud to be in food supply veterinary medicine, 71 percent had not considered leaving the field and 83 percent indicated they were satisfied with their occupation. So there’s reason to believe that most incoming veterinarians who enter a predominantly large/food animal practice will stay in the field. This new program is intended to start more new veterinarians on that career path.
Eligible veterinarians, vet technicians and technologists may apply within two years after getting their degrees in veterinary medicine from an accredited college or university, or completing an accredited two-year vet technician or four-year technologist program. Applicants also must be in their first or second year of working in a Kentucky practice that devotes at least half of its time to large/food animals. Preference will be given to Kentucky residents who are working in an area of defined need.
The 2010 recipients will be announced on Jan. 30. Each year, a committee made up of representatives of livestock groups and other agricultural organizations involved in the initiative will select up to three recipients, who may receive payments for up to three years as long as they continue to practice mostly large/food animal medicine.
I’m vice chairman of the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board, and the other members and I believed in this program so much that we invested $1 million in it. Kentucky Farm Bureau is administering the program on behalf of the Kentucky Cattlemen’s Foundation, which launched the initiative after receiving a $100,000 donation for the purpose of encouraging large animal practice in the state.
Along with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, Kentucky Farm Bureau, the Kentucky Cattlemen’s Foundation and the Agricultural Development board, five other organizations are helping make this program possible: the Kentucky Dairy Development Council, the Kentucky Pork Producers Association, the Kentucky Poultry Federation, the Kentucky Sheep and Goat Development Office, and the Kentucky Veterinary Medical Association.
Potential applicants looking for more information or wishing to download an application may go to www.kyfb.com/federation. A completed application and supporting materials must be submitted to the Kentucky Farm Bureau State Office in Louisville for an applicant to be considered for the program.
Applications must be postmarked no later than Dec. 1 or hand-delivered to the Kentucky Farm Bureau State Office by that date. Applications may be mailed to: Scholarship Coordinator, KFB Education Foundation, 9201 Bunsen Parkway, P.O. Box 20700, Louisville, KY 40250-0700.
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