04/08/08 Addressing the food animal vet shortage

Washington Ag April 8, 2008 Washington cattlemen made some progress in this year's legislative session in addressing the shortage of food animal veterinarians in the state. Jack Field, Executive Vice President of the Washington Cattlemen's Association says the Food Animal Veterinarian tuition bill was passed by both the House and Senate but there was no funding specifically provided for it in the supplemental budget. Instead; Field: "When the final budget is was funded through WSU's general appropriation, but unfortunately WSU took a 1.5% cut on their total appropriation so we worked with Dr. Terry McElwain at the Vet Science Department over at Pullman and he has come up with some funding. So we are going to be able to partially fund one scholarship this year." Field says the WCA is donating to the scholarship and is soliciting donations from other groups as well and they will be back in Olympia next year seeking to fully fund the scholarship program. Grass and legume seed is a multi-million dollar business in Washington. The Washington Bureau of the National Agricultural Statistics Service says the total value of alfalfa seed, Kentucky Bluegrass and other grass seed was 67.7 million dollars in 2007, up from 44.2 million the previous year due to increased acreage and higher prices for some types of seed. I'm Bob Hoff.