Abstract
Veterinarians are in demand due to regulatory changes that require more veterinary oversight in food animal production. The USDA identifies thirteen counties in Arkansas as having food animal veterinarian deficiencies. In response to the report, the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service collaborated with the Arkansas Veterinary Board to devise a strategy for alleviating the shortages. Upon permission by the veterinary board, Arkansas Extension developed a survey to assess the status and needs of Arkansas veterinarians. The questionnaire was included in the veterinarian license renewal packet, asking - How many doctors are in your practice? What species are you willing to treat? Do any of your doctors do farm calls? For which counties do you provide farm calls? Are you aware of changes to the FDA Veterinary Feed Directive? Would you be interested in learning honey bee medicine? Would you be interested in joining the Arkansas Animal Emergency Response Team? Would you be willing to be a mentor for the 4-H Vet Science Program? Would you like your email included on notifications from the Arkansas VMA? Are there any continuing education (CE) topics that you feel need attention? Of the 965 actively licensed Arkansas veterinarians, 537 returned their responses to the survey. Data was entered into an Excel spreadsheet and shared with the Arkansas Veterinary Board, the Arkansas VMA, and the Arkansas State Veterinarian Office. Using the data, Extension created a comprehensive food animal veterinarian directory that was distributed at various producer meetings and made available electronically on the Extension website. CE suggestions were used to develop the Food Animal Medicine Workshop Series, which was awarded funding by the USDA NIFA Veterinary Services Grant Program. The goal of the CE series is to re-train existing mixed animal veterinarians to improve food animal veterinary coverage for Arkansas producers