Tess Salmond says no two days are the same in the life of a rural vet.
"It's like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get," Dr Salmond said.
Dr Salmond is the clinic lead at Apiam Animal Health's Clermont Veterinary Surgery, which services cattle, horses, and small animals across a 1,000-kilometre area.
The central Queenslander followed in the footsteps of her well-respected father, Alan Guilfoyle, who has clocked five decades in the industry.
"It's a very fulfilling job," Dr Salmond said.
"It has a lot of challenges and ups and downs, but it's just so satisfying to do what you love every day."
Vet mental health issues
But after 17 years on the job, Dr Salmond knows its pitfalls.
"One vet in Australia commits suicide every 12 weeks. So it's real, you can't deny the statistics," she said.
Dr Salmond said vets were prone to compassion fatigue and blaming themselves for poor case outcomes.
"They're the ones that have got to the very end of that journey — a lot of us get a bit [that] way … [but] get some help, luckily."
Bronwyn Orr, president of the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA), said vets were at risk of suicide at a rate 1.7 to four times higher than the general population.
"We have a program called Thrive that's looking at delivering a whole bunch of things like vet-to-vet peer support and mentoring," Dr Orr said.
National vet shortage worse in rural areas
Dr Orr said a worsening national vet shortage, further exacerbated by the pandemic, had not helped.
The AVA's 2018 survey of veterinary vacancies saw 34 per cent of positions left vacant for more than six months.
"When we did that survey in 2021, 52 per cent of all jobs advertised took more than six months [to fill], with about a third of them taking more than 12 months," Dr Orr said.
While the shortage is "felt more acutely" in rural and regional areas, the Clermont clinic is bucking the trend.
"It's just fantastic."
Dr Salmond said there was no secret to enticing vets.
"If you have enough vets, that attracts more vets because you've got people to share the load with," she said.
"Rural vet practice can be incredibly intense. Sharing the after-hours is a big one because that is brutal."
Dr Salmond said clients could help by supporting local clinics to sustain staff, rather than relying on transient vets who might be unavailable after hours.
"An experienced vet doesn't just appear magically. We have to invest in the young ones," she said.
One of those is Keely Agius.
"I did a lot of placements here as a student, and I just loved everything that happened," Dr Agius said.
Young vets look for support
Briony Brooks had a tough start to her career as one of two vets in a North Queensland town.
"After 18 months there, I was sick of being on call every second night, every second weekend. The hours were massive," she said.
Working in Clermont has drastically improved her work-life balance.
"The whole team is supportive of everyone here and making sure that we are sticking to [our] hours," Dr Brooks said.
"Being part of such a big team, it's been great."
Monica Chinchilla grew up an hour north of Sydney on the New South Wales Central Coast.
Dr Salmond's infectious enthusiasm lured her to the rural Queensland town.
"There's more pubs than I was expecting for the amount of people," Dr Chinchilla said.
But it is a career move the 26-year-old is proud of.
"But then you have really good days as well."
Need incentives to attract vets
The young vets said a HECS subsidy might attract more people to the profession.
"Drawing more veterinarians into regional areas could potentially be solved with some type of subsidy, such as what they have in doctors, nursing and teachers," Dr Chinchilla said.
The AVA said it would continue to push for government support, including wage incentives for critical shortage areas and university fee waving.
"If a doctor goes rural for three or four years, their HECS fees for their degree are completely forgiven, Dr Orr said.
"The New Zealand government offers that for veterinarians and has done so for more than a decade."
A federal Department of Agriculture spokesman said the department was "not aware of any proposed policies", and "financial incentives alone" were not the solution.
The spokesman said positive change would take a broad approach "from employers and employees to universities and students".
And that the department was working closely with the AVA to discuss options for improving conditions in the industry.
"[The department] remains committed to engaging with individuals and organisations to collectively find solutions, including to encourage and support veterinarians to work in rural areas," the spokesman said.
Despite the challenges plaguing the industry, Dr Salmond is optimistic.
"I think the future for rural veterinary practice is very bright indeed."
