WORK EXPERIENCE

VETERINARY PRACTICE EXPERIENCE

Oaklands Veterinary Practice

1 week - 2008
1 week - 2009

As a practice that specialises in horses I gained a lot of equine experience while shadowing the vets here. I accompanied the vets on farm calls, which ranged from carrying out routine booster vaccinations and worming, to vetting horses and ponies that were being sold, to those suffering from common ailments such as laminitis and colic. At the practice I stood in on consultations, observed mare pregnancy determinations and watched numerous operations in the equine theatre, including operations such as splint removal and draining the head of a horse with suspected sinusitis. I also shadowed vets in the small animal practice during consultations and operations in the small animal theatre, where I observed dogs and cats being neutered on a daily basis.

Forrest House Veterinary Group

2 weeks - 2010

Forrest House is made up of three veterinary practices situated in nearby towns and villages. I spent time at all three practices so that I could get a feel for how a vets time can be split between appointments at several practices, call outs and theatre. While seeing practice here I observed the vets treating a greater variety of species, from tortoises, to cats and dogs, to horses, to rodents, to cows and sheep.

Dunelm Veterinary Group

4 weeks - 2012

This is the longest work placement I have completed and while I did find it tiring having an 8:30am to 7pm day, knowing that every day was going to be different, with new patients and interesting cases, made every day enjoyable and once I was into the routine, I didn't want my time with the practice to end! Again I shadowed vets in consults, in theatre and on farm and house call outs, as well as helping out with cleaning duties around the practice and assisting the nurses and vets by retrieving instruments and drugs for them and helping handle patients. Since completing my placement with the practice I have returned to do a days TB testing with them on a herd of cattle, during which I filled out all the paper work while the vet did the actual testing of the animals, in order to help speed up the process. I very much hope to return to this practice in the future as part of training as a vet student.

FARMING EXPERIENCE

White farm Dairy

2 weeks - 2012

I would probably say this was the most intense work placement I have undertaken, not just because of the early mornings, but also because of how physically demanding it was. Despite this though I thoroughly enjoyed being outside all day with the animals, whether milking in the milking shed, ushering the herd from shed to field and vice versa and caring for the calves and pregnant cows out in the field. My duties ranged from milking, to feeding the calves their daily allowance of milk, hard feed and hay, depending on their level of development, to moving cows from one enclosure to another, to helping put herds of cattle through the crush in order to apply worming fluid to the animals and attend to any other ailments specific to certain animals. I also observed the herdsman tending to the hooves of animals he had noticed were struggling with lameness. This involved restraining the animal in the crush, trimming and paring back the hoof to remove any overgrown or infected material and fitting a plastic block to the foot if needed to raise the heel off the floor. A disinfecting spray was used both in farriery treatment and treatment of minor cuts and scrapes to the body.

Lambing

2 weeks - 2010
2 weeks - 2012

I absolutely loved my lambing experience, hence why I ended up going back to do more! The flock I worked with contained approximately 300 ewes, a number of which were to be 'first time mums'. The younger ewes tended to be smaller than the older females and so had the most difficulty lambing generally, due to having not given birth before and being smaller anatomically. Some of these young females also lacked the mothering instincts necessary to care for their lambs and so rejections were not uncommon. I learnt how to successfully foster these reject lambs on to other females whose own lambs had not survived or that had plenty of milk. Bottle feeding was also sometimes required when the ratio of lambs to ewes was just too great and I undertook this task, making up the bottle feeds and giving them to the lambs. The farmer taught me about the importance of cleanliness in the lambing barn, in order to prevent common ailments such as Watery Mouth Disease and Orf. I eagerly assisted in the actual lambing itself, fancying myself a bit of a midwife I think! The farmer taught me how to get the lamb in the correct position in the birthing canal and how to aid the sheep when giving birth. I also carried out the afterbirth process, giving the lambs a shot of antibiotic and squirting their umbilical cords with iodine to prevent infection.

Pig Farm

1 day - 2009
1 day - 2012

While I had only a short time at the two pig farms I organised placements at, I learned a lot about the artificial insemination of pigs. On my 2009 placement I was given a tour of the farm, during which I was shown the nursery barn, where sows gave birth in specialist stalls and reared their young, the barns where the pigs that were either currently pregnant or waiting to be inseminated were kept, the individual stalls where the boars were kept and the incubation room where all the sperm was stored in a controlled environment. The farm used sperm collected from their own boars to inseminate the females. I observed the sperm being harvested from the boars and assisted in the artificial insemination of the females.

The farm I attended for my 2012 placement bought in their sperm from other sources, however they still owned a couple of boars, which were kept in an enclosure next to the females during insemination, to help quieten them and make them more receptive.

Greenlands Farm Village

1 week - 2010

This placement really increased my animal husbandry skills to include knowledge of a wider range of species. During my time here I cared for all the usual farm animals, such as cows, pigs, sheep, goats, poultry and horses, as well as common pets, such as rabbits, guinea-pigs, dogs and mice. However there were also more exotic animals, such as alpacas, corn snakes and bearded dragons. I very much enjoyed learning more about all the animals on the farm and found it a great experience to be able share my knowledge with the visiting public. As well as telling the visitors about the animals I was required to handle the animals, getting them out for the visitors to handle also, where appropriate. It was sometimes quite a challenge to keep an eye on five kids and the same number of rabbits! But I loved my time working on the farm. Obviously, the cleaning regime was quite strict and it was important to adhere to it, as some diseases can be passed between animals and humans and this was another of my daily tasks, from good old mucking out to scrubbing the bars on the pens with disinfectant. Greenlands has its own butchers and farm shop, where it sells only high welfare, locally reared meat, some of which is reared on the farm itself, which is something I fully support.

Overall this was a brilliant experience that increased my awareness of disease control and really emphasised how building up a positive relationship between the public and farming can really benefit both the public as consumers and the welfare of the animals.

OTHER EXPERIENCE

Farriery

2 weeks - 2009

I carried out this placement with Barry, the farrier that tended to my pony's feet. Over the two weeks we visited a large variety of stable yards, from small-holdings with only a few scruffy ponies, to large competition yards. Barry dealt with a number of horses that required remedial shoeing, due to ongoing problems with laminitis or some other cause of lameness. It was very interesting to see how a farrier is able to alter the whole posture of a horse just through a slight alteration in the way he is shod. The placement made me realise how important correct shoeing is to the overall health of a horse, as the common saying goes, 'no hoof, no horse'. This could not be more true!

The Dogs Trust

On-going placement

I have found my on-going work experience with the Dogs Trust the most fulfilling of my placements. It is a brilliant opportunity that allows me to build on my kennels and dog handling skills while making a difference to the lives of the rescue dogs at the centre. Over the summer I volunteered at the kennels 1-2 days a week, working as part of a small team to complete the daily chores, which include feeding the dogs, re-filling their water bowls, cleaning out the kennels and exercising the dogs. The centre has its own veterinary facilities, ran by a vet that leaves her own practice every Thursday to work at the centre, dealing with ailments common to dogs living in kennels, such as kennel cough and skin complaints. Vaccinations and neutering are carried out weekly, to ensure every dog has up to date vaccinations and is neutered before being rehomed, in an attempt to regulate the number of unwanted dogs. Working for a charity as both a vet and a zoologist is something that greatly appeals to me and so I found it interesting to see how a vet can work within a charitable organisation. Now that I am working full time (and trying to raise my fees for vet school!) I am unable to volunteer a full day each week, but I volunteer on Saturday and Sunday mornings when I have the time.

For a potential vet student an extensive work experience portfolio is almost as important as achieving top grades, therefore I have dedicated a lot of my free time over the last 6 years to building up my practical skills and knowledge of animal husbandry through a large range of animal -based work placements. Please read on to see for yourself what I have been up to . . .