The role of a vet in society - an economics perspective

1. The role of a vet in society - an economics perspective Jonathan Rushton Henk Hogeveen Keith Howe This presentation was developed within the frame of the NEAT project, funded with support from the European Commission under the Lifelong Learning Programme (Grant no. 527 855). Please attribute the NEAT network with a link to www.neat-network.eu. Except where otherwise noted, this presentation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

2. Learning objectives • In the next 45 minutes we will examine: • The roles of the veterinarian • The nature of the different clients that the veterinarian has to serve • Positive and negative aspects of the animals in society • How to interpret the above from an economics perspective

3. Learning material • You will be given information to help understand these different issues and an exercise to reinforce your understanding of the information. • You will also be provided with key references

4. Introduction • Veterinarians help to ensure that the animals we keep and manage have levels of health and welfare that society demands • They achieve this through serving different groups and performing different roles • Yet how many veterinarians are there?

5. Number of veterinarians in Europe (EU, 2007)

6. Number of vets per 1000 livestock units

7. Veterinarians as a percentage of the human population

8. Introduction – key facts • Veterinarians as a group represent a small part of society who need to work with: • animal owners to achieve animal health and welfare outcomes • representatives of society such as government officials and members of non-governmental organisations to achievewider goals on animal health and welfare

9. Introduction – key facts • Therefore vets need to collaborate and motivate others to improve their practices of animal management and care • Economics can add value in this relationship by providing concepts and methods to place a value on animals and in assessing the value of changes in practice

10. Introduction – key facts Economics - the study of making rational choices/decisions in the allocation of scarce resources to achieve different goals

11. Roles of Vets

12. Roles of Vets • Veterinarians are a resource used to benefit society by making animals healthier and more content, which people value • Theyenable farmers to get more output from the feed, labour, and other resources they use in farm animal production • Theyhelp pet owners keep their companion animals healthy and contented

13. Roles of vets • Veterinarians also help sport and recreational animal owners maintain the health and fitness of their charges • And they can be involved insustaining populations of rare wild animals In economic terms animals that are more productive, healthy and contented provide people with more food, happier pets, more raw materials, improved conservation etc. from given resources

14. Exploring veterinary roles • In order to explore the role of the veterinarian within society we need to: • Examine what roles animals have in society and whether these roles are static • Identify and describe the clients of veterinary services • Understand how veterinarians adapt to changing needs • The steps we will look at are the beginning of using economic concepts when performing the complex activities that give the veterinarian their role in society

15. Roles of animals

16. The role of animals in society • How many of you have eaten meat, eggs, milk in the last 24 hours? • Who is wearing leather shoes and belts? • Who is wearing a jumper or jacket made from wool? • Who has a pet? • Who has a horse? • And who is a vegan? Even vegans are affected by animals as they compete for resources in the production of food

17. Animals are a fundamental aspect of societies All the roles of animals are sources of benefit (value) to people Feed and clothe people Provide transport Act as an investment and store of wealth Give pleasure and company

18. The role of animals • The role of animals in society is NOT static • For example just over a 100 years ago animals were largely kept for transport and draught power • Through the use of fossil fuels and combustion engines this has freed both animals and land to for other activities

19. For example Cerca 2010 Cerca 1910

20. And more seriously:

21. The role of animals • Changes in the way we cultivate land has allowed an increase in grain production, which in turn has supported intensive livestock production methods • Meat and livestock products have become relatively cheap and consumption has increased - overall people are wealthy and have more time • People can now spend more time with their pets and the value of these animals has risen

22. New forage species and concentrates Managed forage and conservation systems Intensification and specialisation of livestock systems Predominantly grazing and foraging systems Sophisticated handling systems Housing and handling systems

23. Role of animals – key facts • Animals in societies are fundamental • They serve a variety of functions which can be understand through the social and economic forces of each society • These forces are not static and the role of animals is also not static • In response the veterinary profession has modified how it helps people with the management of animal health and welfare issues at individual and national levels

24. Role of the Vet in Society

25. The roles of the vet in society • The vet serves people through advising them how to manage and improve animal health and welfare • Their interaction with the animal – the patient – is both • direct - if individual treatment is demanded • Indirect - if the owner – the client – is being instructed to change a practice or to implement an animal health intervention

26. The roles of the vet in society • In order to understand the role of the vet in society it is important to think of the relationship between • the client • the patient • the vet

27. The animal health and welfare triangle Veterinarian Treatment Intervention Money Instruction Healthy Animal Advice Prescription Food Care Attention Housing Patient Client

28. Who are the clients? – the private sector • The vet has a number of different clients who are private animal owners of: • Pets • Sport animals • Food animals • They can also serve the needs of larger businesses such as: • Insurance companies • A corporate business that runs food animal businesses

29. Who are the clients? • There are other clients who represent society in different ways • Some these organisations will be private and represent: • animal owners • people interested in animal welfare, wildlife • Other organisations will be funded through taxation and have jurisdiction at a local, national or international level

30. Important issues with clients • Clients will demand different types of advice and services • They will see the vet services and products as resources in maintaining health and welfare of their animals – adding value • Therefore, they will value these veterinary resources in different ways and will be willing to pay for this resource at different rates • Some of this valuation will be influenced by government policy and business strategy

31. Animal health and welfare triangle: - economic interpretation Veterinarian Resource Treatment Intervention Money Instruction Healthy Animal Advice Prescription Expresses the value of vet skills to the client When things go wrong! Food Care Attention Housing Patient Client Beneficiary Resource Resources

32. Roles of the Veterinarian – some examples

33. Role of the Veterinarian – small animals • A dog is brought in a referral clinic with a suspected heart problem • It receives a series of diagnostic tests and it is recommended that is has open heart surgery to extend its life • In this example: • Who are likely to be the clients? • How will this arrangement affect the type of advice and services provided? • Who will capture the benefits from this procedure?

34. Role of the veterinarian – contagious disease management • An exotic contagious disease has entered into the cattle of a country. • The disease causes production losses and also has an impact on international trade • Veterinarians are asked to respond to the problem and find ways to eliminate the causative agent • In this example: • Who are likely to the clients? • How will decisions be made on the interventions? • Who will be the beneficiaries from the animal health interventions?

35. Role of the Vet in Society – prescriber of medicines • A poultry system that raised broilers for meat has just received a batch of day old chicks that do not perform well in the first ten days • The owner would like to treat the flock with an off limit antibiotic • The veterinarian refused to prescribe the requested antibiotic • In this example • Who is the client? • What are the costs? • What the benefits?

36. Role of the Vet in Society – police person • A dog breeding farm calls a vet in to treat a breeding bitch • During the visit the vet notices that the breeding bitches are thin and some look very badly treated • The vet treats the bitch they were called out to deal with • She also talks to the owner about the general state of the other dogs • In this example • Who is the client? • Who would be the beneficiaries? • Who would pay the costs of any actions?

37. Role of the veterinarian • The veterinarian serves the needs and demand of different clients: • Private individuals • Private organisations • Public organisations

38. The goals of the clients • Overall the goals of clients are not simple to describe • The goals can be driven by monetary rewards • They may be influenced by a sense of stewardship for a type of animal or breed • There may be an emotional link with the animals which in the case of pets and sport animals will be individual • These emotional links can be strong enough for people to believe the animal to be part of the family • Animal owners may have feelings of status from their animals – biggest herd, largest animal, fastest horse

39. The goals of the clients • In addition the clients will have other goals in their lives – competing goals for the resources they could use for animal health and welfare of their animals. • The goals clients have for an animal and also the competing goals in their lives will influence how they regard a vet and value the veterinary services and products a vet provides. The goals will influence the role of the vet

40. Summary

41. Summary - Role of the vet • The role of the vet is diverse from: • Private service and product sales – business activity • Managing contagious disease in society – public role • Managing pharmaceuticals in society – public role • Policing welfare issues in society – public role

42. Summary - Role of the vet • These veterinary roles are complex and evolve with changes in how society values: • Animals and the resources and services they produce • Animal health and welfare • Vet services • Important to place animal disease and health issues into a context of animals roles in society • Understanding this social and economic context allows a deeper appreciation of the role of the vet

43. Summary – Role of the Vet and Economics • Economics can add value in the understanding of the roles of the vet by: • Defining which resources are being used in animal health and welfare interventions • Identifying the goals of the clients of the veterinary service and products • Valuing the resources used and the outcomes from the veterinary interventions

44. Key References • Jones, S.D. (2003) Valuing Animals. Veterinarians and Their Patients in Modern America. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore & London. • Introduction – pages 1 to 9 • Norwood, F.B. & Lusk, J.L. (2011) Compassion by the pound. The Economics of Farm Animal Welfare. Oxford University Press, UK. • Chapter 2 pages 7 to 33 • Rushton, J. (2009) The economics of animal health and production. CABI, Wallingford, UK • Preface pages xi to xv

45. Contact Jonathan Rushton Royal Veterinary College jrushton@rvc.ac.ukhttp://www.neat-network.eu

46. Additional slides

49. Client – the farmer • There are different types of farmers Species they keep – cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry capture the main species Type of owner • Family farm • Corporate farm Focus of the farm – for cattle either milk or beef, but in other parts of the world cattle can also be focused on a dual purpose system • The way decisions are made Different people in the household will be involved in resource allocation and the application of resources • Having an awareness of the farm business Any decision in the farm context need to have strong economic motivations

50. Client – the pet owner • The majority of pet owners will have species such as dogs and cats • There will be other types of pets from such as rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters through to exotic and relatively rare reptiles • These pet owners have in common the desire to keep a one or a small group of animals to a high standard • Often these animals become part of the family and their health and possibly their welfare is as important as the people in the house • Often this leads to people expecting treatments similar to those received by humans • To manage this process a veterinary insurance market has developed