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STUDENT DIARY
Mark Challoner
, Manley, Cheshire
Fourth year student, Liverpool University
AUTUMN 2012 ISSUE
LIVESTOCK MATTERS
18
We had tickets for the table tennis, which
despite watching team GB lose was
incredible to watch. I also got out of bed
early on Saturday morning to be part of the
huge crowd watching the women's triathlon
in Hyde Park. The atmosphere was incredible
and despite getting there quite early, I had
to use the full advantage of my height just
to get a glimpse of the action!
I returned from Finland in time for the last
two weeks of rotations in Liverpool, giving
me a great chance to catch up with everyone
before the holidays. I completed the herd
monitoring week, which involved going
through herd records to identify problems on
farm and the ways to address them.
The last three weeks of my time in Finland
were spent on farm rotations, which finally
provided a chance to get out into the
countryside. The farms were very different
from home and it did feel a little bit like
stepping into a time warp. An average sized
herd was 40-60 cows, most of which were
in tie stalls and milked via a pipeline and
bucket system, although robots were starting
to take over on the modern units. A lot of the
cattle housing was quite old fashioned with
low buildings which looked in need of
modernisation. One of the key differences
was a greater emphasis on individual animals
rather than herd health. In Finland, antibiotics
could only be prescribed to individual
animals, so each had to be seen by a vet
before it could be treated.
A busy summer...
With the country fully in the grip of Olympic fever I am writing
this having just returned from a weekend in London.
This meant a lot of our time was spent seeing
routine cases of mastitis and milk fever as
bottles of calcium were not left on farms for
farmers to administer. This was very different
from farm practice at home but could be a
sign of the way we are heading if all of the
talk about antibiotic use is put into legislation,
although I doubt British farm vets currently
have the capacity to deal with it. The
biosecurity was however very impressive,
with most units having sets of wellies for
visitors, some even providing overalls. A good
example from a country that is IBR, BVD and
bTB free. Surprisingly all Finnish farmers were
officially given 21 days holiday a year. Farm
workers employed by the local government
could be booked to cover holidays free of
charge! An interesting idea, but I'm not
quite sure what people would think if you
suggested introducing it here.
During my holidays I am required to complete
26 weeks seeing practice with local vets, so
far this holiday I have done three weeks small
animal and two weeks equine. The highlight
of my time at the small animal clinic was the
successful treatment of a cat that had been hit
by a car. The owner rang up having horrifically
witnessed the accident to say that she had the
cat's tail but the rest had run away! Once she
had located the cat and brought it in, we had
to remove its tail and stitch up a large wound
on its leg. It went home a few days later and
after a few bandage changes made an
excellent recovery. My parents are always
amazed by the wildlife that are regularly
brought in. Last year we had what I termed
‘pigeon of the day’, however this year the local
pigeon population seems to be in much better
health, or at least much less amenable
to getting caught!
I am now only a couple of weeks away from
a five week gap in my placement and I’m
planning a trip to the alps with some friends
from the university climbing club and hoping
for some better weather there.
My view of the Olympic women's triathlon in Hyde Park
Finnish cows with bra's!