Hi all, I'm hoping to go on to vet school after my first degree, but wondered what the general consensus was with female vets turning up to handle livestock etc? Do people general expect or hope for a man and what are past experiences or expectations of female vets? Please be honest!

 Thanks! Grace.

 Not to be sounding negative but havent had any good expereances realy with female vets on the large animal work. had 2 of them come to treat a cow for hoof rot and it ended up with to of us hired hands doing 99% of the work we wear paying them for and a trip to the hospital for me as they cut my leg opan with the hoof knife. But as far as knowing there stuph they were extreamly good just lacking the size to do some of the harder work.

I have no concerns about a female vet turning up as long as she's competent and confident,and this is the same for a man.A woman may have to work on the strength thing so she is strong enough for all the jobs,but the same holds true for some male vets.When you see,on the olympics,quite petit women lifting heavy weights you realise that strength is not all to do with size.

The situation regarding maternity leave etc,etc is of more concern.It makes it a lot harder for a vets practise to be organised to the best advantage of the clients and their stock.However,thats the way its going to be and vets and their clients just have to adapt to the situation.

I read somewhere that the majority of veterinary graduates today are female, something like 70-80% ?

Almost half the vets in our local practice are female and most of the call outs apparently are to smallholdings rather than farms where they are well thought of. 

Thoughts?  I think about our female vets all the time ... errm ... perhaps the is the wrong forum for that image ...

Seriously, though, the practice we use is a partnership where the senior (male) partner is now semi-retired and the other three vets are all female.  As well as serving the town's pets very well, they are very much a large animal practice and from what I have observed do so as competently as any male vets.  One of the things I particularly like is the way they listen to an animal's owner's views and observations carefully rather than being dismissive as many of us males can be of 'non-expert' opinion and certainly all doctors of human medicine I've encountered seem to be.  They are willing to investigate around a problem, ask advice from further afield and work with the animal keeper's experience.  Although they certainly make money out of us, I am quite comfortable describing our vets as friends as much as service providers.

Go for it Grace !

• Always act as though the stockman knows as much as you. (In some areas of expertise he will know more - other less)
• Always ask what he/she thinks
• Always ask for physical help if required
• Always regard them as professionals who emotionally care for their animals
• Learn from the stockman as he is learning from you
• Trust the stockman as much as possible to diagnose and use drugs for self treatment
• Always thank them for their help

Remember, that the best and busiest professionals are usually the ones who give away their knowledge and in so doing their minds make room for more. ( haven't forgetten that you have to make a living but I hope you understand what I mean by 'give' away.)

Thank you so much for the advice, it all goes along way and everything is taken on board. I feel much more enthused about the prospect of facing a farmer who think I'll just make good entertainment!!

Thanks again, Grace.

Go for it, Gracie87.  I'm sure there are still some misogynist farmers around but normally you'll only get a call out when the farmer is stumped for an answer - or at lambing time because smaller hands and slender arms beat chubby fingers and beefy forearms in a tricky situation.

for me a good vet is a good vet, as long as the vet does the job it doesnt really matter who or what they are. we,ve had a female vet out the last couple of times once for dog and i think twice to the sheep since about christmas always done a good job, was very impressed the way she handled one of the tups who has a reputation of being a nasty so and so. likewise we have a male vet who comes to look at the pigs whos also good so cant say ive got compalints either way.

Go For It!

We have female vets that come out at my work and they are just as good as the boys! As someone said already, in lambing, and possibly also calving, slender female hands can be all that is required to get things sorted out. Also I've found that the female vets are more compasionate and easier to work with.

We are close to the Edinburgh (Dick) Vet School and there seem to be more and more female students every year, so I don't think you need to worry about being the only girl in the class, unlike if you were going to study agriculture (I was only only female student in a class of 20)!

Good luck and hope all goes well with you plans.

Four of the five vet students we have had ths year were female, all competant, our regular vet on the outdoor pig unit is second to none!

We need large animal vets, so stay the course  and good luck for the future.

I,m going out on a limb here, but here goes:

every female vet student keeps a male vet student out.

most female vets will be lucky to practise for half their working lives, if they have a family.

thats why vets are in short supply, and can overcharge for services. hence farmers cannot afford a vet, except for big jobs.

more university vet places are needed to address this problem, and more money.

i am not a mysoginist, just a practical reality person.

glasshouse:

I,m going out on a limb here, but here goes:

every female vet student keeps a male vet student out.

most female vets will be lucky to practise for half their working lives, if they have a family.

thats why vets are in short supply, and can overcharge for services. hence farmers cannot afford a vet, except for big jobs.

 

more university vet places are needed to address this problem, and more money.

i am not a mysoginist, just a practical reality person.

 More places at university might help, but I don't think the problem is too many women on maternity leave. There's not actually a shortage of vets - there's a shortage of large animal vets because the work is harder and doesn't pay as well. Even if all vets were men they'd probably be choosing small animal work because it is more predictable and more lucrative.

My wife qualified as a vet in 1976, and we have been married ever since.  There is no particular problem for women in large animal practice: a few stock owners don't like women, but probably rather more do, and in any case some owners just don't like vets!  Strength is not really an issue: OK, I can turn up  our 150 kg tups, and my wife can't, but she just puts a halter on them and lifts the feet up as you would for a horse: there's always another way, and its often better and/or safer, if perhaps a bit slower.

Maternity leave isn't really a problem either: we don't have kids ourselves, but know plenty of female vets who do, and who were back at work part time within a few months of giving birth.  What IS is causing a shortage of practising vets is that only about 30% of female newly qualified vets go into general practice (according to my wife anyway, who is cross about it): the rest go to drug companies, government posts, teaching etc. etc.

                                                                                      Dick Plumb

I agree about the lack of vets wanting to go in to large animal work, as I have been advised small animal work is a lot more lucrative. The problem I am finding at the moment is that I will have to pay £15k to £20K per year to study as it will be my second degree-unless I go to London which is £3k due to it being subsidised. I was amazed to find that there is VERY little funding to help with this and so it suggests that you do have to have this disposable income to attend, which is outrageous!

The grades are not a problem for a lot of people nowadays, so I don't think it should then be filtered by money thereafter.

Grace.

I guess the move to pet insurance is behind the proftability of small animal work. People seem to be spending thousands - sometimes on pretty hopeless cases - because they are claiming it back from the insurers. Farmers are forced to be far more pragmatic about what they are going to spend.

Isabel,

         price for weaned labrador pup £3-600, weaned meat lamb £10 -20.  Says it all really.  Insurance is a major factor in expensive procedures, but it doesn't dominate small animal practice, and insurance companies are getting rather tight about what they will pay for.

        The salaries for large animal vets are certainly lower than for small animal types in cities or the suburbs, but 1 - 4 vet small animal practices outside of major towns pay very little more than large animal ones: £25,000 would be doing well as a starting salary, and given that it may well be for a 120 hour week including night work, the rate per hour is unimpressive.  The simple fact is though that there are very few posts for newly qualified vets in large animal practice, and extremely few remain unfilled for long.  A difference in salary is only relavent if the job exists in the first place.

                                                                               Dick Plumb

 Traditionally people tend to think of farm vets as men, James Herriot style, but times are changing. As a fourth year vet student I can tell you that 90% of my year are female- a trend common not just to my university nor my year but applicable to all seven UK vet schools and a good ten years of students. Add to this that 60% of new graduates want mixed practice and it shows the inevitability that female vets will be working on farms if not now then in the not so distant future. I have heard varying accounts as to how well-liked female vets are but the consensus always seems to be that a good vet is a good vet and gender is not an issue. Handling livestock is not always about strength- common sense, a logical approach and the correct manner are equally, if not more, important. Whilst I have been seeing practice it seems more evident to me that what the farmer wants is experience and ability. With many vets now charging by the hour rather than by the visit it is important to be competent, assured and quick!  It is also important to remember that although there may be physical impossibilites- tugging a calf out that just does not want to be moved- these can be compensated for by guided assistance or C-section for example.

  With Nottingham having opened it's doors three years ago the supply of new graduates is likely to overtake demand and this may well be why there is not too much funding to be had to get on to fresh courses. It's an expensive business in the first place with a degree in London likely to set you back over £30,000 but at the end of the day once it's over you can get straight out there and on with it! Also small animals are indeed where the money is- but when you think of the emotional attachment people make to their small furries, the insurance that they are likely to have and the fact that they are supporting one, two or three animals none of which they are expecting an income from then it sort of becomes understandable! 

never had a problem with female vets. sometimes they need a hand if the job needs brute strength, but that is what us farmer boys is there for!

Speaking completely from results alone, and having no preconceptions either way, since I have been in Canada I would say that female vets have produced a better outcome for me than the male ones.

However in Ireland David Smith of Dunmanway was the best vet I had ever encountered.

It is about the dedication of the individual I think. However I have noticed that large animal vets can 'burn out' after years of it, it takes a toll on anyone.

We have them at our farms on like work experience and its quite good to see a women on the farm - they work just as hard!

Professionally speaking - its not an issue, no problem at all.

Personally speaking - went out with one briefly and she was a bit mad

labour in vain:

Personally speaking - went out with one briefly and she was a bit mad

LOL