BLACKSBURG, VA – Out on Virginia’s farms, when a horse gets sick or livestock needs medical care, a veterinarian can be miles — or even counties — away.
That’s why Governor Glenn Youngkin is hoping to ease the burden on large animal vets with two new bills he signed Friday.
Old McDonald had a farm — and Bill McDonald still does in Blacksburg.
“I tell people we have the most famous song in all of agriculture,” McDonald said.
McDonald’s family farm dates back to the 1700s. But like many farmers, he relies on large animal veterinarians to keep his animals — and his business — healthy.
“We’re blessed that we do have the vet school here, and we also have some veterinarians in their own private practice that we utilize,” McDonald said. “But we’re in kind of a microcosm of veterinary care, because there are places in the state that does not have that.”
Dr. Chris Byron, head of Large Animal Clinical Sciences at Virginia Tech, says the profession is struggling to grow.
“Over the last seven or eight years, we’ve lost several regional veterinarians, large animal veterinarians,” Byron said.
One of the biggest challenges: pay.
“The income for small animal veterinarians is substantially higher than the income for a new graduate going into a large animal career,” Byron said.
That’s where the new legislation comes in. The identical bills — one from the House and one from the Senate — create a grant program aimed at attracting more large animal vets to underserved parts of the Commonwealth.
“Their patient can’t tell them what hurts, they have to figure it out for themselves,” Youngkin said. “And that’s exactly what these great, great veterinarians do. They figure out how to take care of this most important part of our great, great ecosystem.”
With more veterinarians on call, farms like McDonald’s can keep running — and keep feeding Virginia.
“Food security is national security,” McDonald said.
