The province is looking to help attract and retain livestock veterinarians in rural parts of the province with a new funding program.

The Agriculture and Food Ministry announced the $1.4-million Regional Recruitment of Veterinary Service Delivery for Food Animals program Thursday (Dec. 12). The program will focus on northern B.C. as a priority region, but clinics in the southeast, Okanagan, Thompson, southern Cariboo, Vancouver Island, Lillooet and Pemberton will be secondary priority areas. The Lower Mainland and the Fraser Valley will be the lowest priority area. 

The province says the program is aimed at helping clinics that provide livestock care, with the recruitment and retainment of veterinarians and registered veterinary technologists, as well as funding for equipment and training. 

The program will offer a maximum if $25,000 per clinic to help with: hiring bonuses for new veterinarians and technologists who commit to contracts of up to one year and delivering highly needed services through contracts between veterinarian practices and producer groups for services, such as herd health services or extra staffing during calving and lambing season.

Up to $10,000 is available for supporting local planning for sustainable delivery of veterinary services in under-serviced areas.

Up to $5,000 is available for recruiting new veterinarians and technologists by including expenses for advertising, recruitment services and travel expenses for interviews, and up to $3,000 is available for software and training to improve a clinic's telemedicine capacity.

The first intake for the program will be from Tuesday, Dec. 17 to Jan. 15, 2025.