Vet Shindig

We went off to a do last night organised by our vet practice West Ridge at the pub in Thelbridge. They have just amalgamated with Acorn Vets so this was all about the farm practice and their offerings to we horny handed sons of toil. The car park was jammed with big muddy vehicles and you could tell that quite a lot of them had recently left the milking parlour as there was that sweet smell of milk mixed with disinfectant. We all dived into the free bar as it is not very often you get anything for nothing from a vet. As a result I am rather slow today with a slight hangover.

Our neighbours from Groubear Farm were there and Desmond who farms over the hill. We were amazed to see fellow alpaca owners Paul and Teresa Cullen, not having realised it was their vet practice that had been swallowed by the all powerful Dick Sibley – big veterinary wheel in cows. The lovely Ingrid, the steadiest hand with a needle of all our vets, gave a presentation on pneumonia in calves in a strong Dutch accent. It was good and she got a few laughs as well. Then it was on to shovelling embryos into infertile (blocked tubes) dairy cows, a snip at £60 an embryo and £90 for putting it in. Apparently this stretch of Devon has the highest concentration of cows anywhere in Europe and the vets do 10,000 TB tests a year. They find it very depressing and are fed up with being the bearers of bad news. So now they hire a newly qualified vet and make then do TB tests for six months solid, poor things. The girl who drew the short straw this year was still out working, delivering calves instead of downing a free drink. Then it was bluetongue and BTV1 in Lancashire. We realised as we listened to Dick that loads of farmers had not vaccinated the offspring born this year, a bit odd, as I assume all the alpaca people have. He said that in Europe Year 2 was much worse and expressed concern that the vaccine companies were holding back on production as there are three of them now and they didn’t know what the take up would be. We have already ordered 200 doses for next year as the BAS advised and have 70 in the fridge to start boosting in the New Year. Then he said that he didn’t think there would be a DEFRA at all in five years time as the government wanted to wash its hands of livestock. I think that is peculiar as all the foodie trends are towards home grown produce with improved welfare for stock going to the meat market – that means local. We had a bit of a go at them for their crap billing system as even if you write down the ID of the animal treated and give it to the vet, it never appears on the bill, so I have to go through the diary looking for the information. And they are terrible at getting lab results to you. He took the point and promised to improve the system. We shall see!