Veterinary service coverage for livestock varies dramatically by region, with remote and low-income farming areas often having inadequate access to welfare-relevant veterinary care.
Veterinary access inequality is a welfare justice issue - animals in remote areas and low-income countries suffer preventable disease and injury because treatment is unavailable, regardless of owner willingness to seek care. In the UK, declining large animal veterinary numbers in some regions create pockets of inadequate coverage that affect farmer ability to provide welfare-appropriate care. Globally, the billions of livestock animals in low-income countries have essentially no veterinary coverage - disease, injury and nutritional problems go untreated because of systemic absence of services. Addressing this requires investment in rural veterinary education, financially viable rural practice models, telehealth infrastructure and community-based animal health worker systems in low-income settings.