Finding a vet for a cow has become ‘almost impossible’: farmers

Farmers are growing increasingly frustrated as they find it “almost impossible” to get hold of a veterinarian when their animals need medical care, a situation that occasionally forces some of them to resort to home-made methods of medical care.

The problem is affecting mostly cows but several farmers who spoke to Times of Malta said pigs, sheep, goats and chickens also frequently fall victims to the shortage because veterinarians seem to prefer working with small, domestic animals in clinics.

They say it has become a nightmare, especially when the cows are giving birth late in the evening or during the night. Occasionally, cattle need to give birth by a caesarean procedure and, on other occasions, they need stitches after they give birth.

“It is a horrible feeling having to watch your animals suffer in desperate need of medical care while you’re helpless, unable to find a vet. In extreme cases, some farmers’ only option is to try and tend to the animal’s medical needs themselves, in the ways they know,” one farmer said.

It is illegal for any medically unqualified individual to perform medical procedures on animals but desperate times call for desperate measures.

In some extreme...