Vet student measuring pasture at Montrose Dairy

We’ve got a great local vet practice, never too far away if we really need them. But finding vets willing to work with large animals is always a challenge. Large animal veterinary work can be a physically demanding and the appeal of cat, dog and budgie work in the city seems to entice many young vets.

So when we were asked to host a first year veterinary student (who is keen to pursue a veterinary career working with large animals)  we  were happy to help out.

Much of the veterinary work which we have done on our farm is preventative or herd management work such as pregnancy testing. At this stage of the season there isn’t much vet work scheduled. While there wasn’t much work veterinary for our student to assist there’s always plenty of cows to milk.

I always enjoy having interested visitors on the farm, it’s great to get someone elses perspective on what we do every day.  Our vet student was very interested in the calm, passive way in which everyone on our farm manages the cattle and how quiet our cattle are (she has had plently of experiance with beef cattle previously). She was also impressed with the level of technology adoption in the dairy industry.  Our attention to pasture management really caught her attention and she was happy to help out with measuring our pasture covers.