THE LABOUR and skills shortage facing the veterinary profession in Scotland is a worrying and on-going problem that will not be easily fixed.

While James Herriot and the Yorkshire Vet TV series have done much to romanticise the profession, the truth is that small animal work is more sexy, easier on the practitioners and much more profitable than chasing cows and sheep around a shed at all hours of the day and night.

There is no quick fix and the pipeline of young talent coming into the profession is at a trickle and so that's why there is a reliance on imported labour for large animal work and that of the routine tasks in abattoirs.

But this is not the same problem facing the seasonal demands of fruit and veg farmers who also rely on a migrant labour force. Their needs do not require them to spend several years at university to gain a qualification for picking broccoli.

Using migrant labour as a plaster for the vet shortage in Scotland – indeed in the rest of the UK – is not a long-term solution. What's really needed is a more durable policy that will, ultimately, produce a steady stream of home-grown veterinary practitioners for many years to come.

Just how you can make large animal practice 'sexy' is the main issue, because for farming that is the crux of the issue and farmers in remote areas are already seeing a reduction in vet services available to them.

Maybe there could be a 'conscription-style' mandate which would mean all mainstream vets have to do formative work with large animals is one idea. But that's not ideal.

The better solution would be if it were deemed 'sexy' because vets could make as much money doing it as they do from the insurance-led small animal market.

That is something the farming industry will have to face up to and one it has been playing on to its advantage for many years. It might just be that it's time for farmers to take a more serious look at how they budget for vet services before they lose them altogether.

Sunny outlook?

WHAT a difference a few weeks of better weather makes.

But grass and crops growing and lambs and calves bouncing around the fields should not blind us to the fact that already there is a fodder shortage facing the industry.

That's why the rest of this summer will be crucial in laying down a sound financial base for the next winter. We're not out of the woods yet!