Livestock and poultry producers cutting flock, herd sizes

Meat, poultry, and dairy producers have overall been cutting back the sizes of herds and flocks.

But there will be “huge demand” for food supply veterinarians for a long time, said David M. Andrus, PhD, who headed a research team for the May 2006 Food Supply Veterinary Medicine Coalition Report and is a professor at Kansas State University’s College of Business Administration.

“There was such a huge shortage that even a fall in production of animals won’t overcome the need for more food supply veterinarians,” Dr. Andrus said.

That is not to say the production cutbacks won’t affect veterinarians through reduced spending and delayed payments by clients.

Use of corn for ethanol, drought, increased oil prices, price drops for some animal byproducts and high-end meat cuts, and declines in export demand have all contributed to the recent financial woes experienced by animal agriculture producers, according to several agricultural economists.

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