Those of us that were there in 2001 pulling together to try to control the most serious Foot and Mouth (FMD) epidemic ever seen in the UK, will I'm sure have thought long and hard about those time and the parallels we now see with SARS-CoV-2 (the virus responsible for COVID-19). The twentieth anniversary of my short time working for MAFF in Carlisle has certainly brought back some difficult memories for me. Of course, the diseases are very different, over 120 000 people have now lost their lives to COVID-19 in the UK alone and to those grieving loved ones the comparison with a disease that resulted in the death of over 4 million livestock may seem inappropriate. It's not this I want to focus on, but the disruption to veterinary businesses and that of our clients. In that there are similarities, and the turmoil caused by COVID-19 will have consequences long into the future, just as FMD has.
As for the other great uncertainty of our time, Brexit, I've never made a secret of my views on this, but just watching reports of valuable fish and shellfish stuck at ports and spoiling on lorries since 1st January, with boats tied up, it is hard to imagine how those in the fishing industry who voted leave imagined the loss of the free market and tariff free trade would help them. After all, catching fish you can't get to market and sell is a rather pointless exercise. It remains to be seen if the agricultural economy suffers the same problems in coming months, as we start lambing, do we have a market for our lambs?
Talking to veterinary students at this time, many who might have considered careers in livestock practice are now questioning the wisdom of beginning a career in the sector given all the uncertainty. Most of you reading this know better than me the challenges in large animal practice right now. Nevertheless, despite all the uncertainty, now is a time to think to the future, we can't afford to lose graduates from our branch of the profession and must work hard to encourage those that are so inclined into livestock practice. However, the lack of opportunity to undertake extramural studies (EMS) in the past 12-months has been career changing for some younger colleagues.
I know how hard we at Bristol are working to ensure our students get the very best education possible, and I know all my colleagues in other veterinary schools across the UK, and further afield, are doing likewise. The graduates of 2021 will be day one competent, just as those that went before them and those that will follow have been and will be. However, competence and confidence do not always correlate as we well know. Being confident and lacking competence is dangerous, being competent but lacking confidence often means we don't fulfil our potential or simply turn away. It's becoming apparent just how important EMS is in building that confidence. The RCVS adjusting EMS requirements will help students manage to meet their milestones and graduate, but they remain worried about how they'll manage out on farm with limited direct support and some are telling me they are considering switching to small animal careers because of it!
One only has to look at the excellent articles in this edition of Livestock to see that there is lots of positive discussion around the future of farm animal practice, whether that be regarding how we charge for our services, evaluate evidence to inform best practice or manage and control diseases and conditions such as TB, BVDV, lameness or parasites. Despite current uncertainty livestock agriculture and the veterinary profession that supports it has a bright future, let's demonstrate that to our younger colleagues now like never before. I urge you all to take as many students for EMS as you can, as soon as you can, they need your support, and they need it now. Please also consider employing new graduates this year, if you don't they may well be lost forever to other parts of the profession.