Are James Herriot's days over?

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Britain's animal agriculture faces the same challenges as does Canada's. There are too few vets in the countryside any more. It's worrying Agriculture Minister Jim Paice, who says more vets than ever are needed to stop animal disease outbreaks in intensive swine and poultry operations.

A recent study by the University of Newcastle found that the time vets in private practice spend treating food animals fell by half between 1998 and 2006. As in Canada, 80 per cent of veterinary college students are female and all students are encouraged to specialize early.

Britain knows more about animal agriculture epidemics than most Western nations, having undergone a BSE epidemic and survived a foot-and-mouth disease purge, both in the last 20 years.

The James Herriot days of a country vet treating "all creatures great and small" are long gone, Paice says. BF