But even those incentives haven't been able to solve the nation-wide shortage of vets that continues to cripple the industry. On the website Kookaburra Vets there are 136 jobs advertised in NSW where each clinic promotes what they have to offer prospective applicants.

The crisis has got so bad that the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) is calling on politicians ahead of the federal election to commit funding in programs to help graduate vets stay in regional areas. They also want university fee forgiveness as veterinary wages are some of the lowest educated salaries.

In one of the most idyllic regions of NSW, Kisa and Greg Baldwin, from The Rivers Equine Vet near Byron Bay on the state's North Coast, have been advertising for six months to replace vets.

"My husband was working solo on and off for 10 years as equine vets are hard to find," Dr Baldwin said.

"It's devastating we are now back to where we started where he is on-call all the time to service all the horses in the area plus racing stables. We are one little practice but there are a lot of other similar scenarios across the state."

Dr Baldwin said there were plenty of university graduates who found the demands of the job intense due to expectation, hours and pay. She added the industry was losing around 50 per cent of graduates in the first five years of finishing their course.

While many practices were offering huge incentives to fill positions, she said it was difficult for small businesses to match it with some owners forgoing their own wages to employ staff just so they could get a day off.

She called on governments to supplement undergraduate wages in regional areas similar to apprentices' wages seen in other industries.

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David Amos from Gunnedah Veterinary Hospital, in NSW's north east, echoed Dr Baldwin's sentiments saying the vet shortage was a problem that had been "some time in the making".

"It doesn't matter whether it's fruit pickers, station hands or clothing shops, no one can get enough staff," Dr Amos said, who has one vet vacancy.

"The vet industry has been showing signs on this for years and it's not getting any better, even though there are loads of graduates ... the demand is exceeding supply by some margin."

AVA head of veterinary and public affairs Cristy Secombe said the shortage was a complex problem that required a sophisticated solution as the the crisis was not just in the bush, it was everywhere.

"Australia can not afford the country vet to be phased out, as this will have extreme negative impacts on human health and wellbeing, bio and food security, animal welfare and animal production systems," Dr Secombe said.

"There is some evidence in other countries that desertification of vets from rural settings is an early indicator of impending agricultural sector collapse."

Dr Secombe added that vets played an important role in biosecurity, particularly around early disease recognition and surveillance, which was performed by both government and private sector vets.

"If veterinary biosecurity work is not being done it increases the likelihood of exotic diseases and diseases that have a large on impact animal welfare and production systems becoming well established before they are identified," she said.