The departures come as the country battles its longest-ever outbreak of bird flu and faces the encroachment of New World screwworm, a flesh-eating pest detected among cattle in Mexico.

“With the decrease in USDA veterinary positions, there is concern that fewer veterinarians will be able to perform ongoing regulatory requirements, disease investigations, and response planning and preparation,” Kansas animal health commissioner Justin Smith said.

“This could result in slower response times and less responsiveness to local veterinary needs,” he added.

Egg prices set records this year after bird flu wiped out millions of laying hens. Cases have slowed in recent weeks, though experts warn outbreaks could flare up again during the spring and fall migratory seasons for wild birds that spread the virus.

More than 15,000 USDA employees have taken President Donald Trump’s financial incentive to quit, about 15 per cent of agency staff, as part of administration efforts spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk to shrink the federal workforce.

In that exodus, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the agency that fights livestock diseases and pests that hurt crops, lost 1,377 staff. That represents about 16 per cent of APHIS employees, according to a Reuters analysis of data from the federal Office of Personnel Management.

About 400 of those leaving worked in the agency’s Veterinary Services arm, representing more than 20 per cent of its 1,850 staff, one source said. That branch works across the U.S. and globally with farmers to test animals for disease and control its spread.

The tally includes 13 of the agency’s 23 area veterinarians who oversee veterinary work across the country, according to a chart of staff departures seen by Reuters and a source familiar with the situation.

Also leaving are 20 -30 per cent of staff at one USDA lab that tests for animal disease like bird flu, a second source said.

Those remaining must have all purchases above $10,000 approved by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, potentially adding up to four weeks of delay, the source said.

The USDA did not respond to a request for comment.

‘A big deal’

The staff losses threaten APHIS’ ability to respond to bird flu, which continues to infect dairy herds and poultry, said three state veterinarians and three other sources.

Seventy people, mostly farm workers, have contracted the virus since 2024, and further spread raises the risk that bird flu could become more transmissible to humans, experts say. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the risk to people from bird flu remains low.

Among other responsibilities, area veterinarians can support culling of infected poultry flocks and receiving of payments for their losses, said Beth Thompson, South Dakota’s state veterinarian.

“The federal government, they won’t have the number of people to be able to help out the states,” said Thompson, who had seen the chart of staff losses. “It’s a big deal.”

Thompson said USDA’s chief veterinarian, Rosemary Sifford, told her the agency will determine how to organize the remaining area veterinarians after seeing whether there are further departures.

Other APHIS departures include about half of its 69-person legislative and public affairs office, which handles correspondence with members of Congress, external groups and the press, including on issues like bird flu, according to another source.

In New Mexico, state workers are assuming additional duties after USDA support staff resigned, state veterinarian Samantha Holeck said.

“We won’t know the full impacts of these changes immediately,” she said. “The important thing is that we work together as a team through all of these challenges.”

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The company, VETSon, hopes that by bringing veterinary practices more digital, they might lessen the burden on those practices and make services available to more farmers. Their artificial intelligence-powered virtual healthcare platform, launched by father-son team Glen and Colin Yates, is designed to let veterinarians service more clients and give more animal owners access to care.

The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association now expects 5,000 job openings between 2022 and 2031, and only 4,300 applicants to fill them.

“I grew up watching the challenges in the veterinary industry, especially with the growing shortage of vets in rural areas, so we’ve developed a tool to help veterinary practices cover as many calls as efficiently as possible,” said Colin Yates.

This includes an e-commerce tool where farmers can order livestock medicine directly from their clinic through the app. The product is delivered to the farm. This increases convenience for the farmer, who doesn’t have to work around clinic office hours, and saves the vet from additional paperwork or drop-off on the farm.

Vet clinics sign on to the VETSon service and provide clients with a login. Farmers can then access their veterinarian’s practice digitally, including telemedicine visits and virtual locum services to fill temporary gaps.

Revenue is shared between VETSon and the veterinary practice. There is no change in pricing for farmers if a clinic is using the service, said Yates.

The first practice trialled was his dad’s practice, Slant Road Mobile Veterinary Services.

The younger Yates provides strategic support and helps developers understand the veterinary industry’s needs, with the goal of having technology that is easy for vets and farmers to use.

Response from farmers has been “overwhelming,” with farms from northern British Columbia to Cape Breton trying to access the remote service. The company is actively pursuing expansion across Canada to meet demand.

“We are a revenue-generating company now and we are starting to get traction with clinics. It’s a conservative industry, but we’ve made a conscious effort to work with the College of Veterinarians of Ontario and other regulatory bodies in Canada to give them updates,” Yates says.

“We aren’t trying to work around vet clinics. We are about supporting veterinarians.”

VETSon is also turning heads in the innovation space. It is a graduate of Creative Destruction Lab’s supply chain stream startup program in Montreal and a member of the current cohort of ag-tech startups at Cultivator, an innovation hub based in Saskatchewan led by Conexus Credit Union. VETSon has also been part of Ontario business growth group RH Accelerator since 2022.

“When you’re a startup, it’s all about networking on various levels. These programs help you gain information to educate yourself on how to raise money and practice pitching. That’s an art in itself,” said Yates. “Potential investors can help us scale faster; this is a global issue.”

Most recently, VETSon presented to the European Union’s Working Party of Chief Veterinary Officers, who asked the company to share how it uses telemedicine to ease veterinary strain.

In two years, the company hopes to have an established footprint across Canada, with a global presence in five years.

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“Canada needs a veterinary workforce enhancement program that supports expansion and innovation of clinical teaching, training, and research,” said Canadian Veterinary Medical Association president Trevor Lawson in a news release today.

The CVMA said it visited Parliament Hill today to call for more investments in programs to shore up the industry and for mental health support for veterinary workers.

The profession is facing a worker shortage that “poses a significant threat,” the CVMA said.

Between 2022 and 2031, 5,000 veterinary jobs will open due to expansion and replacement needs while only 4,300 job seekers will be available to fill them, the CVMA website says.

The shortage of vets and veterinary workers has been an ongoing topic of concern.

A 2020 survey of Western Canadian vet clinics showed that of 526 practices, 44 per cent of them were looking to fill 281 positions. Practices that had recently hired new workers reported it could take anywhere from three to 12 months to hire someone.

The data suggested that mixed animal practices, which likely are representative of rural and small-town clinics, struggled most to fill openings.

The shortage makes it difficult for vets to provide care, the CVMA said. It also threatens veterinary workers’ well-being, with a survey of Canadian vets showing that more than 89 per cent were suffering from burnout.

The CVMA said the shortage could be addressed by recruiting internationally trained veterinarians, by setting up a national testing centre for vets trained outside of Canada, and by dedicating cash to veterinary infrastructure.

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The main tranquilizer I am talking about is acepromazine, a member of the phenothiazine tranquilizer family. It is not a prescription product and producers can be trained in its usage and in the way it is delivered.

Since the dosage is pretty low (although effects last a long time) and the cost per dose is minimal, it has many uses in cattle production in my opinion. Whether it’s calving, tie breaking, clipping or simply transportation, if we can get cattle calmer, it always goes better.

Even when using low-stress handling techniques, cattle can get worked up in certain situations and can benefit greatly from tranquilization.

The withdrawal on the 25-milligram product is seven days. This tranquilizer will work on most species on the farm, but I am going to focus only on cattle at this time.

This product will cause a lowered heart rate and blood pressure, and dosage will vary depending on the method of administration. Many give it orally or intra-nasally but I recommend in the tail vein because it goes right into the bloodstream — so the dose can be kept low and it acts fast.

Uses around calving include cows being overly aggressive towards their newborn calves or kicking at their calves when trying to suck as tranquilization may make them passive enough to change this behaviour.

We have all had to try and graft a calf on to a cow. Methods range from using products such as Calf Claim or rubbing placenta on an adoption calf to skinning a dead calf and putting the hide on a substitute calf. These all can be effective ways to get a mother to adopt a calf, but also tranquilizing the cow will improve success rates. The calf will be taken quicker by the new mother and she is unlikely to hurt it from bunting or kicking at it when it is time to nurse.

Bull sale season leads to bulls being clipped or torched to get them all looking good. The first time through the chute, using a slight bit of tranquilizer can make the process easier (on the bull and for the person clipping). If the bulls are calmer, the procedure goes by quicker and they have a good experience setting them up for an easier pass through next time. Showmen may even use this when just halter breaking for the first time.

There is no doubt tranquilizers have a place and what I like about acepromazine is you can visibly see the effects from the sleepy eyes and slightly staggered gait. In bulls we can have a prolapse of the sheath so watch when using it in bitterly cold weather. That is why most veterinarians, if they don’t get protrusion of the penis in semen evaluating, may use tranquilization to visualize the penis and make sure there aren’t other things wrong.

Veterinarians may use acepromazine for anything from settling down cows for C-sections to claw amputations to cancer eye removals. They may also use other products in combination with this tranquilizer as well as a local anesthetic. Younger veterinarians have gotten into using other tranquilization products but as you can see there is still a place on our farms and ranches for products such as this.

I have used this product for anything from marker bull surgery to a rumen fistula. If you titrate the dose properly, they can still ambulate and load well.

If shipping cattle a fair ways away, there is a natural type product that has no withdrawal that can be fed to cattle. It is a product called DeStress which has among other things an amino acid called tryptophan, which has naturally a slight tranquilization effect. It is fed to cattle and can also be used on bison (but at a higher dose) and has a tranquilization or calming effect which owners can visibly see.

This of course makes it easier to load and transport plus shrink is greatly reduced. Not only is there an animal welfare benefit but also an economic one as live weight and carcass weight will be higher on slaughter animals given this product.

Producers with interest should be taught how to give tranquilizer products like acepromazine in the tail vein. Also you can also get blood samples this way if your veterinarian needs them.

I know producers may have other uses for things like acepromazine in livestock production, anything from dehorning to prolapse repairs.

Effects last several hours and only are repeated in rare occasions I would say. Keep this in mind for any of the procedures listed above. It may take some time before we realize how this can fit into your operation.

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The provincial ag ministry on Monday launched a round of public consultation on the Veterinarians Act, which governs licensing of veterinarians and accreditation of veterinary facilities in Ontario.

The ag ministry said it’s “looking for specific feedback on how we can better define animal care activities provided by veterinary professionals.”

That means more clearly laying out the “scope of practice for veterinary medicine,” such as the procedures, services and processes a licensed veterinarian or other veterinary professional — a veterinary technician, for example — is permitted to perform.

Updates to the legislation would also “clarify” specific care activities, such as massage therapy or rehabilitation, that can be provided to animals by people other than vets and vet techs.

The province said it’s also weighing how oversight of the Ontario veterinary profession can be better lined up with that of other self-governing regulated professions, so as “to ensure that the veterinary profession continues to be managed in the public interest.”

For example, the province said, that could involve “altering the composition” of the profession’s governing council to include a “wider range of membership and voices” such as vet techs, academic representatives and/or “additional public members.”

The province said it’s also looking for public feedback on “how to improve accountability and transparency to make sure that powers, responsibilities and processes under the (Veterinarians) Act are clear to the public.”

Feedback collected in this round of consultations would go to help develop a “more detailed proposal” for amendments to the Veterinarians Act, the province said.

Such proposals would then be laid out in a discussion paper that’s expected to be posted on the Regulatory Registry for further public consultation in early 2023, at which time the public would be able to provide “additional input.”

A ministry representative said via email there’s no firm deadline for submissions to the current round of consultations, but feedback received by early January 2023 will go to help develop the discussion paper. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The college and the Saskatchewan and Manitoba governments on Thursday announced the two provinces will each step up their funding commitments to the college, raising the number of subsidized seats for new students each year.

Saskatchewan, which until now has subsidized 20 new students per year, will raise that number to 25 starting in 2023-24, and Manitoba’s count will increase to 20, up from 15, at the same time.

British Columbia already announced this spring that it would double its subsidized seat count at WCVM to 40 starting in 2022-23.

Veterinary schools in Canada serve defined geographic regions, and only students who meet the residency requirements in those regions can apply to attend. The terms of the cost-sharing interprovincial agreement (IPA) between Saskatchewan, Manitoba and B.C. for WCVM cover provincial enrolment quotas and the residency status of applicants to the college.

As of next year the expansions will bring the agreed-upon total of subsidized IPA seats at WCVM to 88, also including one from the three northern territories and two Indigenous students through the college’s education equity program.

Alberta had been a party to the WCVM IPA until 2020, when it stepped out of the partnership and reallocated that support to its veterinary program at the University of Calgary.

The WCVM until now has had 20 non-subsidized, non-IPA seats, which give preference to students from the three partner provinces but are also open to residents of the territories or Alberta if they’re not filled by Saskatchewan, B.C. or Manitoba residents.

A WCVM representative said via email that the college will advertise those 20 non-IPA seats as available until it confirms whether B.C. plans to maintain its IPA quota at 40 beyond 2022-23.

“The provinces’ support allows more students from Saskatchewan and Manitoba to achieve their dreams of a career in veterinary medicine,” WCVM dean Dr. Gillian Muir said in a release. “It’s also a sound investment in protecting the health and wellness of all animals — from companion animals and wildlife to livestock that play a critical role in Canada’s agriculture industry and the country’s economy.”

Factors including a “rapid increase” in pet ownership, more veterinary professionals reaching retirement age and a “limited number of graduates each year” have led to shortages of veterinarians and registered vet techs across Canada, the college said.

That shortage is more glaring in rural communities, where vet clinic service is essential for livestock producers and the ag industry.

Manitoba’s ag minister Derek Johnson, in a separate release, said that province’s additional seats will be “targeted for the support of commercial livestock, such as cattle, bison and pigs as well as sheep and goats, in rural areas to address this critical labour market need.”

Saskatchewan didn’t say whether its new seats would specifically favour livestock vets, but did say the increase would “help address the growing need for veterinarians across the province, particularly for large animal and mixed animal veterinarians in rural Saskatchewan.”

In 2022-23, Saskatchewan is providing $11.9 million to the WCVM, with an additional investment of $539,000 in 2023-24, which over the four-year veterinary medicine program will mean an increase of $2.2 million by 2026-27 over 2022-23, the province said.

Manitoba, meanwhile, said its funding contribution to WCVM will increase by $539,200 for 2023-24 to a total of $7,009,600, in turn bringing its total contribution in 2024-25 to $7,642,400.

“Increasing the number of students who can attend vet school and enter the profession is the logical first step in addressing the veterinary shortage,” Michelle Streeter, a fourth-year WCVM student from rural Manitoba, said in that province’s release Thursday.

“I am also hopeful that Manitoba’s decision to increase seats draws more students from the Prairies who are interested in working in rural mixed animal practice, since agriculture is such an integral part of so many local communities.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The province’s Loan Forgiveness for Veterinarians and Veterinary Technologists program was first announced in April last year, offering forgiveness of 20 per cent of an eligible provincial student loan debt, for up to $4,000 per year, for up to five years, or $20,000 maximum.

To be eligible, a program participant licensed to work as a veterinarian or veterinary technologist in Saskatchewan had to have started working in a designated “rural or remote” community — or with livestock services in designated communities — on or after Jan. 1, 2021. The loan forgiveness program started taking applications Jan. 1 this year.

The eligible vet or vet tech has had to be either “new to the profession or new to the community” and had to have been employed in that community for a minimum 12 months and provided at least 400 hours’ service in that community.

The change announced Tuesday extends the same level of loan forgiveness to those working at any Saskatchewan practice that “offers veterinary services to livestock stakeholders from rural or remote communities.”

That expanded criteria would also cover mobile veterinary services, among others, the province said.

“This expansion will ensure that veterinary professionals providing services to smaller communities are eligible for the program,” provincial Advanced Education Minister Gord Wyant said in a provincial release Tuesday.

Wyant described the move as “a positive step forward in addressing the need for veterinarians and veterinary technologists in rural and under-serviced communities in Saskatchewan.”

The Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association “had raised concerns with the government previously around the qualifying parameters for this program,” SCA chair Arnold Balicki said Tuesday in the same release.

“We truly appreciate that (provincial officials) took our concerns to heart and made the necessary changes to allow clinics in larger centres such as Prince Albert, who also serve rural clients, to now qualify.”

Balicki, for example, ranches at Shellbrook — about 45 km west of P.A., the province’s third-biggest city.

The beef cattle industry, among others, “is facing a shortage of vets which can negatively impact our industry, our ability to expand, our need for an established vet/client relationship for access to drugs and even animal welfare,” he said. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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There are more than 840 veterinarian and veterinary technologist vacancies in Alberta — a “near-crisis” situation that poses a risk in terms of animal welfare, livestock production and public health, the Alberta Veterinary Medical Association said in a recent news release.

Livestock producers are definitely being affected, said Jason Hale vice-chair of Alberta Beef Producers.

“I mean, they are busy,” said the Bassano-area rancher. “You better be booking a month in advance. My concern is these good vets are so busy that we don’t want to burn them out.”

There are no small-animal vets in his area, said Hale, adding the problem isn’t confined to Alberta as there is a global vet shortage.

“If it’s an emergency, you know, the vet clinic here that I deal with will get you in,” he said when asked how ranchers are managing the crisis. “But as far as routine procedures for things, the non-emergencies, you just wait, and you book your time when you can get it.”

• [READ MORE] More money helps, but fixing rural vet shortage a daunting task

The doubling of enrolment at the faculty of veterinary medicine at the University of Calgary over the next three years will provide “some relief,” said the Alberta Veterinary Medical Association. The province is also funding expansion of animal health technology and veterinary technologist programs including NAIT, Lakeland College and Olds College.

But it’ll take time for the new recruits to graduate and enter the profession.

“It’s a complicated crisis,” said Dr. Natasha Kutryk, a large-animal veterinarian and vice-president of the veterinary association. “The biggest thing here in Alberta is educational investment has just not kept pace with the surge in demand. And that surging demand has been Alberta’s growing population. There’s definitely not a shortage of young people applying to the programs.”

The profession also suffers from high attrition and retirement rates, and mental health problems aren’t uncommon, said Kutryk.

However, the vet shortage is changing the way livestock owners interact with veterinary teams and it has created an opportunity for vets to empower clients to better detect some diseases, she said. There are also more discussions about preventive medicine and preparing in advance for vets’ busy season.

“One of the best tools actually that we are really embracing now is telemedicine, so the use of videos and photos for clients who already have a relationship with their veterinarian,” said Kutryk, who also operates a cow-calf operation with her husband near Vegreville.

One livestock illness that producers can watch out for is bovine respiratory disease, common in the fall when calves are stressed due to weaning and relocating to feedlots or yards.

The staffing shortage has also created an opportunity for producers and clinics to embrace the knowledge and capabilities of veterinary technologists.

“Honestly, not everywhere, but they are underutilized,” said Kutryk.

In addition to addressing the labour shortage through more training capacity and certifying more foreign vets and technologists, her association is also focused on “stopping the leaky bucket” — that is, reducing the exodus of burned-out people from the profession. That effort includes encouraging its members to have a better work-life balance, a mentorship program, giving more tasks to veterinary technologists, and lessening some of the workload.

“There has been a shift in bringing animals into clinics,” said Kutryk. “Sometimes producers might not have the best facilities on site. Preparation and being organized and planning ahead and just a basic understanding of animal behaviour. That’s probably the biggest one: To know what you can and can’t do.”

Cattle producers are also under a lot of stress these days and they’re being encouraged to do things that make their lives easier, she added.

Ranchers should “lean into any veterinary relationships that you have to focus on preventive strategies.”

Jeff Bectell, who has a 200-head herd on his ranch near Cardston, said he hasn’t suffered any negative outcomes due to the vet shortage.

However, he is having to book weeks in advance for routine procedures, and so he’s put an emphasis on maintaining quality herd care to avoid unnecessary vet interventions.

“We’ve got a vaccination program to keep everything healthy,” he said. “We feed our animals well. We rotate pastures and kind of keep things out on pasture, so we don’t have as much sickness.

“So there are a lot of best management practices that result in a healthier herd.”

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“This targeted enrolment funding will go towards hiring on more faculty/staff to teach the increased number of students,” Sam Blackett, press secretary for Advanced Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides, said following Tuesday’s funding announcement.

“It will also go towards purchasing additional course materials such as textbooks and/or other equipment needed to support a larger number of learners for the program.”

The new money comes as rural Alberta and its farmers and ranchers face what Finance Minister Travis Toews on Tuesday called “an emerging shortage” of veterinarians and veterinary technologists.

The Alberta Veterinary Medical Association (ABVMA) published a workforce study last year showing vacancy rates for veterinary positions as well above the provincial job vacancy average.

That report put Alberta’s vacancy rate for veterinarians at 16.7 per cent, and for veterinary technologists at 18 per cent, compared to the provincial average of 2.6 per cent.

To bridge that gap, the province aims to increase the existing number of seats in the U of C veterinary program by up to 50, which would double its current capacity.

“Agriculture is a key pillar of Alberta’s economy. That’s why it is so critical we ensure that livestock have access to the veterinary care that keeps them healthy,” Premier Jason Kenney said in Tuesday’s release.

“Alberta will be well served by this new and expanded generation of veterinarians,” ABVMA president Dr. Daren Mandrusiak said in the same release.

The new funding follows February’s capital budget commitment of $59 million over three years for animal health infrastructure at U of C — which includes money for a new facility at its Spyhill campus, more core teaching capacity at its W.A. Ranches site, and renovations at its Foothills campus.

The new facility at Spyhill will be about 7,200 square metres and include a mix of classrooms, lecture theatres, an instructional wet laboratory, administrative space and student service space.

The W.A. Ranches site will get about 1,200 square metres of space including a classroom trailer, a multi-purpose trailer, and administrative office space for academic and teaching technicians.

New animal holding facilities are also planned at that site, including penning for cattle and a Sprung tent structure, Blackett said Wednesday.

Alberta’s recent investments in veterinary programs follow its 2017 decision not to renew its funding for the University of Saskatchewan’s Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon, shifting that funding instead to U of C starting in 2020.

— Liam O’Connor reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Saskatoon.

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Addressing the shortage was a key goal for Pat Burrage, who spent most of his three-decade-plus career in small rural practices. But it’s not solely a matter of boosting the number of graduates from the vet school, he wrote in a message to association members.

“The solutions to the current professional workforce shortage are very complex,” he wrote before adding, “it wasn’t easy getting to this point nor will it be easy in the months and years ahead, but there is a plan.”

The new funding is a “positive step forward for our profession, for all animal owners and for Alberta,” he added.

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