Jérôme Gendro’s cow started mooing at noon. It makes noise, a bovine giving birth. But this day in January 2023, the screams are nothing usual. The calf is in a breech position, upside down. To get him out, the breeder, based in Queyrac, in Médoc, needs a cesarean section and a veterinarian. He calls 17. None are available. At midnight, the two animals die and the breeder begins to cry.
Apart from a few lines in a local newspaper, the story never made any noise. Who cares about one less critter? However, the matter is not anecdotal. On the contrary, it sheds harsh light on the downgrading and desertification underway in the rural world. In the countryside, veterinarians have become rare. Just like the traders and general practitioners before them.
These specialists, essential links in breeding, were numerous to walk the winding roads from herd to herd. “Rural”, caring for cows, pigs, chickens and geese once occupied the majority of the profession. Now, only 16% are working on the farm, according to figures from theNational demographic observatory of the profession. With so few specialists, response times have gradually lengthened, and rates have increased.
A feeling of abandonment
One more difficulty for breeders, added to the endless days, the headaches of environmental standards and soaring diesel prices. “These little nothings, and the silence that surrounds them, form a whole which fuels our anger”, assures Luc Jeannin, FNSEA trade unionist, planted this Thursday on top of a tractor, in the middle of a roundabout at the exit of Montceau-les-Mines, in Saône-et-Loire, to support the ongoing protests across France.
If the shortage of veterinarians is not the trigger for the farmers’ demonstrations – a series of road blockages along the lines of the yellow vests – it fuels a lot of resentment. “Sometimes, we have to tow our animals for kilometers so that a specialist can see them,” continues Luc Jeannin. The feeling of abandonment, the uneasiness, described by so many farmers, inevitably becomes stronger when we resolve to let an animal go from bad to worse.
The kilometers of asphalt to be swallowed between farms that are less and less close and the nights where the telephone does not stop ringing, including Sundays and New Year’s Eve, have taken their toll on vocations. Not to mention the stereotypes about the environment – “tough”, “declining”. The shortages are everywhere, even in dense livestock areas. The remaining practitioners are aging and are not being replaced. When there are buyers, they quickly turn their backs on the pastures, which are not profitable enough.
A health and financial risk
Although it receives little publicity, the problem is well known to public authorities, given the financial and health risks. Animals “far from care” means more illnesses. Ultimately, lucrative export contracts could be lost – certain countries require very strict checks and certification that no problematic pathologies are circulating. Not to mention possible transmission to humans. Swine or avian flu, a large part of the epidemics of the last century come from livestock farming.
Stéphane Le Foll, Minister of Agriculture under François Hollande, had already made the subject one of his priorities. From its roadmap, hailed by all stakeholders in the sector as a first awareness of the problem, a first law was born in 2020, allowing municipalities to help veterinarians set up. From there, a call for projects was launched and experiments are underway. Eleven territories benefit from it.
Possible solutions
In the Grand Est, the rate of veterinarians specializing in farm animals exceeds the national average by a few tenths. Not enough to make it a completely neglected territory, but already enough for disruptions to begin to be felt: “In addition to destabilizing existing activity, the shortage is blocking new agricultural installations, even though we wanted to relaunch them”, indicates Laurent Wendlinger, president of the region’s Agriculture commission. No veterinarians, no breeders. No breeders, no veterinarians.
To break this vicious circle, the region is targeting students, too many of whom prefer to care for cats and dogs in the city. They are now reimbursed for accommodation and travel costs. “If we keep even two, it would be enough to put an end to desertification here,” hopes the elected official from the Grand Est. The rest of the funds released will go to the employer, to encourage them to train and maintain their rural activity, and to projects to build or expand practices.
In Corrèze, the first department to launch its action plan, a call center was created to centralize emergencies and allow veterinarians who are not on duty to rest. In the north of Nièvre, a week of “discovery of rurality” has been launched. We will have to wait to know what actions to sustain. Especially since the needs differ depending on the livestock farms (intensive or extensive), their production (milk or meat), and the types of animals.
However, these tests make it possible to build a toolbox. “We see it with the shortages of general practitioners, desertification is a complex problem and will take time to resolve, but it is possible to act”, enthuses the elected Grand Est Laurent Wendlinger. The fact remains that there are no miracle solutions. “If part of the territories have been stabilized, the closures continue, as in the Gers, where we risk no longer having veterinarians at all,” specifies Jacques Guérin, president of the Order.
Just in time, like in the hospital
At the mayors’ meeting at the end of November, Jacques Guérin once again alerted city councilors of the risks of disruptions in the continuity of care. For him, the situation is comparable to the hospital crisis: “Veterinarians are showing great professionalism and solidarity in the face of the issue, but we are approaching the breaking point.” Especially since ruminants are currently having to deal with a virus from Africa, epizootic hemorrhagic disease. It had never been detected in Europe before 2022.
At each medical alert, in addition to routine visits and births, veterinarians must inspect the herds and help implement barrier measures – which can go as far as euthanasia of an entire herd for certain infections. , an act that can be traumatic for both the caregiver and the breeder. Although epizootic hemorrhagic disease is transmitted by the bite of midges, and is not transmissible from animal to animal, this is not always the case. What would have happened if a contagious disease had emerged?
“If the veterinary network becomes too loose, the risk is to lose our ability to react,” worries Christophe Brard, president of the National Society of Veterinary Technical Groups, an organization responsible for training. A sign that all is not lost, in 2022, the decline of livestock specialists was only 2%, according to the Order’s demographic atlas. The end of a hemorrhage, at most.
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