AUGUSTA – The grim reality in Maine is that about 30 veterinarians serve the state’s entire livestock population – fewer than in 1986 – and farmers often must truck their animals for hours to receive medical care.

The shortage is a situation that has no quick fix, the Legislature’s Agriculture Committee acknowledged Wednesday.

LD 400, a proposal to hire four more state veterinarians, was voted ought not to pass by the committee only after members agreed that its hefty price tag would do nothing to relieve the lack of private, large-animal veterinarians.

The bill would have cost $330,828 in salaries and benefits in 2007-08 and $460,324 the next year. Committee members said passing the bill would be “offering promises we can’t keep” because it would surely be killed by the Appropriations Committee.

Jill Ippoliti, the committee’s legislative analyst, summed up testimony on the bill.

“The growth within the livestock industry really needs support,” she said Wednesday, “but the role of those vets would be to provide educational and technical assistance and look at preventative care.”

Shelley Doak, director of the state Agriculture Department’s livestock division, testified that state law prohibits state veterinarians from competing with private veterinarians.

Although no one spoke in opposition of the bill at its public hearing, Ippoliti said there was a fear within the agricultural community that the new veterinarians would concentrate on enforcement or compliance, particularly if the controversial MaineID program becomes mandatory.

The program would require Maine farmers to register their premises with state and federal officials. There has been heavy opposition to the program.

Committee members said they realized the large-animal veterinarian scarcity in Maine is critical but that LD 400 did nothing to address that shortage.

Instead, a discussion was held on possibly extending the authority of veterinarian technicians or assistants to allow them to be alone on farms, conducting well-animal checks.

Rep. Wendy Pieh, D-Bremen, who owns llamas and sheep, said this expansion would allow veterinarians flexibility and enable them to enlarge their practices.

“In speaking to the American Veterinary Association, they said that veterinary school costs so much that a large-animal practice won’t pay off the debt,” Pieh said.

Pieh said there is federal legislation that would help large-animal veterinarians pay for tuition but it has not been funded. “Write to your congressional delegation,” she suggested.

Some University of Maine System schools, such as the University of Maine and University College of Bangor, have two-year vet tech programs.

Doak said she would like to see a four-year program that would result in veterinarian technicians with expanded authorities.

“We at the Department of Agriculture are working hard to expand that program,” Doak said.

Pieh said a group consisting of members of the state Agriculture Department and the livestock industry would study the issue and submit a report to the Agriculture Committee.