Jim Paice, the Agriculture Minister, warned that more vets than ever are needed in the countryside to stop outbreaks of animal diseases in intensive units like swine or bird flu.
But the latest statistics show that young vets are predominantly women who prefer to specialise in treating pets in cities or certain conditions like canine disease.
A study by the University of Newcastle found the proportion of time vets in private practice spend treating animals used for food halved between 1998 and 2006.
Mr Paice warned that the lack of country vets able to treat large animals and ensure farms are disease free could lead to food safety issues.
Mr Paice said: “The countryside needs vets with the right skills to help maintain a reliable supply of food. Farmers rely on vets to keep their animals and businesses healthy – that’s why we need the whole food chain from farmers to supermarkets to make sure their needs are clearly understood by the veterinary industry.”
The Veterinary Development Council is working with around 50 representatives from the veterinary profession, the farming industry, slaughterers and processors and retailers to encourage more students into large animal practices and improve education.
Harvey Locke, President of the BVA, said the James Herriot vet, who roamed the countryside treating everything from pets to dairy cows was over.
Instead, vets are more likely to specialise.
“Everyone is trained as a James Herriot style vet, who can treat all species,” he said. “The difference now is there is this demand to specialise.”
Mr Locke insisted there was a new kind of vet for the 21st Century.
He pointed out that 80 per cent of the intake into veterinary school today is female.
Also, because of the rate of advancing technology, younger vets tend to specialise earlier and more often in order to learn the skills needed for particular operations or areas such as infertility treatment.
Mr Locke said modern day vets can still be a pillar of the community but their job is quite different as farmers tend to be more educated and do a lot of treatment themselves. Instead of being called out in the night for lambing or a sick calf, vets spend a lot more time on preventive medicine. Vets within a practice tend to specialise and spend a lot more time looking at the farm as a whole rather than individual animals. This means carrying out more regular inspections and giving farmers advice rather than just being called out in emergency situations.
For example ensuring antibiotic doses are correct on a pig farm, preventing mastitis on a dairy unit or controlling the spread of infection in poultry.
“The role of the vet in the future is changing and is becoming more specialist. “The veterinary profession needs to get across to the farming industry about what vets can do to make their farms more profitable and healthy, it is not just about treating sick animals.
“The vet profession has a big role in public health as well as treating ill dogs and cats,” he said.