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STUDENT DIARY
Sam Bowker
, Exeter, Devon
Fifth year veterinary student, Cambridge University
WINTER 2013/2014
LIVESTOCK MATTERS
18
About me
I am a vet student about to start my fifth
year of a six year course at Cambridge
University. I grew up on a mixed livestock
farm near Exeter in Devon. At home we
milk 150 Friesian-type dairy cows, lamb
300 ewes (of which I have a flock of 25
pedigree Charollais), run 20 Devon beef
sucklers, and until recently had an outdoor
herd of 750 sows.
We also have cider orchards, 60 acres
of spring barley, and run a Christmas
shop during the month of December,
selling trees, wreaths and meat from the
farm, with four reindeer helping to draw
the punters in! I'm a member of YFC at
home who loves sport, and I hope to
practise as a large animal vet once
I graduate.
Biggest news yet...?
Biggest news since I last wrote is that my wonderful girlfriend Sarah
has agreed to become my wife - we are to be married on the 5th July
2014, before the beginning of 6th year. As such, time this term has
been filled with wedding planning, on top of vet school, hockey and
church activities. The time seems to have flown by, and a lot of fun
has been had - I am increasingly coming to the conclusion that I love
being busy!
I'm currently also starting to think in detail
about my elective project for final year. This
is an eight week project split between four
weeks on work experience and four weeks in
the vet school, where we get to look at an
area of interest in more detail. I have decided
to focus on mastitis in dairy cattle, in
particular the effects of triangular teat liners on
Somatic Cell Count (SCC) and incidence of
clinical mastitis. At home we are doing a trial
with triangular liners over the next year or so,
which will provide an excellent source of data
(it is indeed a great blessing to come from a
farm!) The theory is that triangular teat liners
cause less trauma to the teat during milking,
thereby reducing the risk of bacteria entering
the udder. In addition, the clusters that are
being used have a different mechanism of
vacuum flow which reduces reflux of milk
during milking, again reducing bacterial
contamination of the udder. I look forward to
seeing if they make a difference or not.
A group of us from Cambridge went up to
the BCVA (British Cattle Vet Association)
Congress in October for their first ‘Student
Day’, and it was an excellent event. The
programme put on for us involved seminars
in the morning and on-farm visits in the
afternoon, and was well worth the early start.
There were three streams, focusing on
lameness, fertility and mastitis; I went on the
mastitis programme, and learnt a great deal
about the milking machine and prevention of
environmental mastitis. It was also a great
opportunity to meet some more practising
vets, as well as go round the stalls and
relieve them of their freebies!
I'm looking forward to going home in a
couple of weeks - from what I hear it has
been as manic as ever; harvesting the cider
apples, building a new silage pit, getting
One of our reindeer poses for a shot - a big
attraction at Cotley Farm Christmas Shop!
Triangular teat liners
provide a three way
massage and in
theory cause less
trauma to the teat
than conventional
round liners.
ready for the Christmas shop, all with
lambing fast approaching. It's always a fun
time, and it will be great to catch up with
everyone in and around three weeks of
work experience.
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and
Happy New Year.
The ewes in-lamb for December