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WORKING
TOGETHER
FOR A HEALTHIER FUTURE...
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LIVESTOCK MATTERS
About me
I am a veterinary student in my third year
at the Royal Veterinary College. I grew
up mostly in South East London spending
every moment I could further south east
in Kent, working on farms and stable
yards. Having escaped living in London
to enjoy the fresh air of Hertfordshire with
the husband, dogs, cats, small furries,
reptiles, horses and my own small herd
of dairy goats.
AYear in...
It is very odd feeling when the tutee becomes the tutor and the arrival
of a new intern, means that I am officially old hat. Saying that, it's
amazing how much I have learnt over the last year, how much my
confidence has grown and how many cases are safely tucked away in
the experience bank.
GRADUATE DIARY
Emily Francis,
BSc MRCVS BVM&S
Torch Farm Vets
I graduated from the University of
Edinburgh in Summer 2015 and started
my farm vet internship programme at Torch
Farm Vets the following October. I am part
of a large team of 17 dedicated farm
vets, four TB testers and a whole host of
invaluable support staff based over five
sites covering North Devon.
My interest in pro uction a imal medicine
was well cemented before starting
university and I have not once looked
back on my decision to go straight into
purely farm animal practice. Even on rainy
days, which are a very common
occurrence in Devon, I can’t imagine
doing anything else.
I took part in the XLVets farm graduate
programme in late 2015 and it’s really
helped me get off the ground with clinical
decision making by refreshing my
knowledge and asking all those stupid
new graduate questions! I met a great
bunch of people and it’s a great way to
reach out to the wider XLVets community.
I have a particular interest in calf health,
youngstock management and the
prevention of perinatal lamb losses, I
hope to learn a huge amount more in
these areas in the following months.
Outside of work I have just joined a local
cricket club to continue my keen interest in
playing and coaching when I am not out
walking my new Springer Spaniel ‘Ted’.
I can now happily join in exchanges with
other vets about the less than ideal scenarios
that farm vets encounter far too regularly. But
a vet reunion wouldn’t be the same without
them I guess, even if it wasn't funny at the
time! I had my first solo caesarian on a
heifer in July that went very much more to
plan than expected and the expression of
relief on my face was very obvious standing
with the cow licking her live calf in front of
me. The tips learnt on the new graduate
course have definitely improved my success
rate! However I know that I still have a long
way to go; and the phrase ‘you learn
something new every day’ will always be
true in this profession. Today’s happens to
have been how to worm pet geese!
During the last few months I have had more
opportunities to get out on routine herd
health visits at a few of our dairies. Initially
I found pregnancy scanning to be a
challenging task. However, with perseverance,
some words of advice and more experience,
I'm now more accomplished... and looking
forward to my solo routine visit.
With this new-found confidence I am now
not only finding pregnancies but starting to
age them and make plans for individual
cows depending on their reproductive status.
Helping farmers get their cows cycling and
back into calf as quickly as possible is
essential with the dairy industry as it is
and I know that all the vets at Torch are
dedicated to helping our clients in whatever
way we can.