Recent graduate vets believe that the future of cattle practice lies in the development of a broader role which includes herd health planning, and advice on topics such as nutrition and housing. These views were expressed in short articles submitted as part of a competition run by Merial Animal Health and the BCVA in conjunction with Vet Times.

Entrants had to write an article of between 350 and 500 words on ‘The future of cattle practitioners – 2020 and beyond’, and the winners were given tickets for this year’s BCVA Congress. Merial’s Veterinary Adviser Fiona MacGillivray said: “The standard of entries was extremely high and the entrants had clearly given some careful thought to the challenges ahead and the role that the cattle vet would play in meeting them. 

“A number of entrants emphasised rising global population and the challenges of feeding more mouths from the same amount of land. While providing advice on herd health management was high on the agenda for the many, they also believed there would be a reduction in the amount of emergency work carried out by practitioners – termed the ‘blue light brigade’ by one entrant.”

The six young vets who won a place at the BCVA Congress were:

Victoria Smith, Vets 1 Ltd, Norfolk
Sarah Bruce, Trefaldwyn Vets, Powys 
Katie Fitzgerald,  Bishopton Veterinary Group, N Yorkshire
Tom Gamwells,  Delaware Veterinary Group, Somerset
Emily Gascoigne, Synergy Farm Health, Dorset
Jake Lawson, Kingsway Veterinary Group, N Yorkshire

Victoria Smith predicted that supermarket pressure for identical product would continue to squeeze small producers, while the number of small holdings would continue to rise. She also predicted that TB would continue to be an issue.

Sarah Bruce was one of those that talked about rising population as a major influence. She also predicted that livestock production would be increasingly marginalised by a switch towards arable production. “This, combined with many other financial pressures farmers are facing,” wrote Sarah, “Is going to accelerate the demand for vets to not only treat the individual sick animal, but to also drive efficiency in production by any means possible. This will include advice and expertise on fertility as the major player in producing a steady supply of revenue. No longer will cattle practitioners be the ‘blue light brigade’, but farmers and vets will become team players.”

Katie Fitzgerald saw a similar change in emphasis. She wrote: “The role of the cattle vet has vastly changed over the last 20 year. Although responding to emergencies and individual animal medicine remain a fundamental part of our work, herd level, preventative medicine with a focus on health, welfare and production forms the cornerstone of all modern cattle practice.”

In his piece Tom Gamwells envisaged more specialisation for cattle vets, greater use of para-professionals and more customisation of treatment regimes. In concluding he wrote: “The cattle vet of the future will be a computer literate, statistically minded, economically conscious, specialised consultant and instructor, who can also calve cows.”

Emily Gascoigne wrote a large part of her submission as a job advertisement for two vets of the future, one specialising in beef and the other in dairy. She wrote: “Both positions will focus on preventative medicine, productivity analysis and risk management. Individual medicine and surgery is a key component of this position and the practice maintains an on call rota. Routine tasks (foot-trimming, dehorns, pds etc) are currently provided by our trained Veterinary Technicians.”

The employment of lay people to perform routine tasks was a theme taken up by Jake Lawson. He wrote:  “I see the future of farm vetting in providing a whole farm service, not just vet work, but a range of paraprofessional options for the farmer, from foot trimming to vaccinating his stock. I believe that just providing a veterinary service is going to be of limited value in the future, with more and more farmers employing lay people to perform operations such as scanning, foot trimming, and to sell them pharmaceuticals.”