A new report has outlined the shortage of regional and rural vets is at a crisis point and has suggested further incentives to attract veterinary students to live in rural areas after graduation.
A recommendation from the Regional Education Commissioner's 2023 annual report said more needed to be done to address a critical veterinary workforce shortage in regional and remote Australia.
In her report, commissioner Fiona Nash called for fee relief for students, changes to funding models and incentives like housing in rural areas of need of vets.
Australian Veterinary Association president Diana Barker said strategies that will build and retain the regional veterinary workforce were urgently needed.
"We implore the Commonwealth Government to expand their educational fee forgiveness scheme for doctors, nurses and teachers to veterinarians, as they too are providing an essential service," Dr Barker said.
Accreditation standards currently call for veterinary students to do at least 52 weeks of placement during their courses, which Dr Barker said exceeds the requirements of many other degrees and prevents students from undertaking rural and regional placements due to the high costs.
A valuable experience for young vets
Veterinary students Chantel Stavrides, Adelaide, SA, Lucy Fielke, Hahndorf, SA, and Maddie Dodds, Navigators are in their third year of a Bachelor of Science and Veterinary Bioscience at the University of Adelaide.
The trio visited the CVLX Ballarat for their Friday store sale as part of a rural placement program which also includes time working and living on Beryl and Trevor Dodds' farm at Navigators, south of Ballarat.
Maddie Dodds, who is the granddaughter of Beryl and Trevor, said she was aware of the big demand for vets in regional areas and while she already has a wealth of experience on-farm, it was vital for city-based vet students to get a rural experience.
"It's important to improve animal welfare regionally and to have good quality vets especially for larger animals," she said.
"We need [vets] to ensure regulations are being met in those rural areas and working down at Navigators has been great to actually see animal handling techniques and how things could work at a big animal clinic."
All three students plan to move onto a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine once their Bachelor degree is completed.
Ms Stavrides, who lives in Adelaide's central business district, said visiting the saleyards was valuable "because for me... I just don't see this side of farming."
"It's a good experience to understand what happens in the farming industry, outside the clinci"
For Ms Fielke, a love of animals established while growing up in Hahndorf meant a career as a vet was natural, but she was still unsure if she'd move to a regional area after graduation.
"I think I would much rather be working out in the the country with big animals, but I'm still keeping my options open at the moment," she said.
Beryl Dodds said the placement was a unique experience for her as a farmer, but believed it gave vet students a "good head start" and an understanding of "where farmers come from".
"The girls have been very helpful for us and while they have shown an interest in the health of our animals, there's been so many other things they've seen that they may not get in the classroom," Beryl said.
"We've given them an idea of how pasture and stock management works at Navigators but also speak to them about farm planning, drenching animals and soil management."
