YOUNG CATTLE RAISERS
The 2 Percent
Less than 2 percent of veterinarians practice exclusively on food animals. TSCRF veterinary scholarships may help students consider this career path.
By Kim Smith Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Foundation
Amanda Kowalski A Jessica Drennan Thomas
CCORDING TO THE AMERICAN VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (AVMA) approximately 6 percent of veterinarians specialize in equine vet- erinary medicine; 7 percent of veterinarians have mixed animal
practices; less than 2 percent of veterinarians practice exclusively on food animals, while more than 67 percent of veterinarians practice exclusively on companion animals. As this data reveals, there is a shortage of large-animal veterinarians.
To help address this problem, Joe Freeman, a rancher and architect from Austin, approached the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Founda- tion (TSCRF) about establishing a dedicated scholarship fund to support veterinary students who choose large-animal medicine as a career. It was an idea based in both philanthropy and practicality. According
to the AVMA, the average educational debt of a 2013 veterinary school graduate was $162,113. Figures provided by DVM360, an on-line profes- sional veterinary magazine, show that in 2009 the average annual salary for companion-animal veterinarians was almost $18,500 higher than that of large-animal veterinarians with similar experience. As a result of Freeman’s original vision, the TSCRF now works with
Texas A&M University’s College of Veterinary Medicine to award scholar- ships each spring to students who are entering their fi nal year of vet school and who are planning careers in large-animal medicine. Since 2007, the Foundation has awarded $177,500 to 41 recipients.
The scholarship committee has a diffi cult decision each year because the scholarship applicants are all outstanding. Bethany Schilling, a 2010 graduate of Texas A&M’s College of Veterinary
Bethany Solomon Schilling
Medicine says, “One of the most diffi cult things for a young graduate is the amount of debt incurred acquiring their DVM. Scholarships, like that of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Foundation, help ease this burden and allow students to focus on acquiring the knowledge they will
30 The Cattleman July 2014
thecattlemanmagazine.com
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