Too soon

Yet Albers thinks that the profession is not ready for a limited-licensure overhaul. Dr. Don Klingborg, of the University of California-Davis' School of Veterinary Medicine, agrees.

"Licensing agencies have a big dog in this hunt because there's a lot of money to be made in this; people will want to leave their options open by taking more than one exam," says Klingborg, associate dean for Extension and Public Programs. "It also can simplify the life of a school if we take students in and can train them in one species. But I think people are using limited licensure to fix too many problems with one word. They haven't defined it."

"We have let a free-market system (influence) where people want to go, and it's led to an imbalance between small-and large-animal practitioners," he says. "There just isn't a level playing field. Emergency clinics have made the life of the small-animal practitioner a million times better. There's more money in it, a better lifestyle. That's not happening on the large-animal side."

The inequity has little to do with limiting the licenses of veterinarians, and considering the rise in graduates entering internships and residencies, Klingborg says that adding another year to veterinary programs is a more palatable way to pack in added education.

"A high percentage of new graduates are electing to accept more debt and add what's essentially a fifth year. So why are we then sweating bullets about this?"

Motivations

That idea doesn't fly with those in food-animal sectors, where rural salaries represent some of the lowest in the profession, says Dr. Anthony Knight, professor of Integrated Livestock Management at Colorado State University's College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Set up correctly, limited-licensure programs can meet real needs in the profession, says Knight, who's watched his program dwindle during his 30 years on staff. "We still basically train along the lines of a generalist, and we've seen time and again, food-animal students come in and by the time they leave, they're small-animal veterinarians."

That pattern manifests in real numbers. According to AVMA statistics, large-animal veterinarian totals dropped to fewer than 4,500 in the United States in nearly two decades, representing less than 10 percent of the nation's private practitioners.

If veterinary medicine fails to produce more food-animal DVMs, Knight predicts the federal government will hire foreign practitioners to work in the nation's food-safety and agriculture systems. For that reason, limited licensure is encouraging, he says.

"I find the idea of trying to change the curriculum a positive for the profession," he says. "We could train a food-animal veterinarian with two years of medicine and an MBA in agribusiness and nutrition. Right now our students are coming out with $150,000 in debt, and people expect them to go into food-animal practice? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize this is a losing proposition."