Is the demand for holistic / naturopathic / alternative vet medicine increasing?
Dr. Lee: I see some demand. The organic movement in the dairy industry is small but steadily growing and gaining market share. In terms of small farmers—there are a handful that I can think of in our practice that I would describe as mostly organic, though if it gets to the point that the animal is suffering by not using conventional therapies they are fine with using more traditional vet medicine. Raising organically or more naturally works really well with small farms because [producers] aren’t overly stressing the animals in most cases. I can’t say all small farmers are doing an exemplary job—you can certainly find some small farmers who are quite poor at their craft. But, for the most part, the smaller farms I see tend to have fewer animals, more room, plenty of feed and good housing. People sometimes overemphasise the idea that these animals are raised holistically—it’s not that they are getting different veterinary care; they’re not getting any care because they just don’t need i
