Kenwyn Veterinary Centre - Farm and Equine
As Kenwyn Veterinary centre only takes on Veterinary students I was extremely lucky to be able to join them for a day at the practise.
I spent my day with Peter Sotherby.
The first job was a routine check at a family run Dairy farm with over 200 cows.
The purpose of the visit was to establish if the cows were in calf, this was done by driving each cow into the crush. Once in the crush the Ultra sound scanner was inserted and the uterus scanned to confirm the presence of a calf. If the cow is in calf it is released from the crush.
If no calf is detected the ovaries are scanned to check for follicles and any other possible problems are checked. Cows with follicles on the ovaries were given a jab and others were given a CIDR implant that is inserted into the uterus and should stimulate the cow into producing its own hormones.
This particular farm was using sexed semen on their cows to ensure that all the calves were female so that they could replace any of their cows that had been lost over the course of the year, however the conception rate for sexed semen is particularly low and a large percentage of the cows were not in calf.
Some of the cows were being described as 'dirty' meaning that they had picked up an infection after calving
Whilst on the farm, Peter carried out a follow up check on a cow that had been in for surgery for a displaced stomach and also saw a calf that had an injured toe on its foreleg.
After being completely disinfected and washed down, we were back in the car and on the way to the second farm.
The second farm was also a large dairy farm with approximately 400 cows in 1000 acres of land.
There were 4 animals on the farm that needed the attention the first being a cow suspected left displaced abomasum (LDA). This was quickly confirmed with a 'ping' test, when the abomasum becomes displaced it moves from the underside of the cow into the left hand side and fills with gas. Using a stethoscope and by flicking the area the stomach makes a pinging sound similar to that of a fully inflated balloon. Peter decided that the cow needed to be brought into the clinic for surgery as soon as possible. The cow had a temperature of 102.5 which was taken with a rectal thermometer and so was given a dose of broad spectrum antibiotic (Nisamox) in an attempt to restore its temperature before being brought in for the operation.
The second animal to be seen was a cow with retained afterbirth, Peter was able to quickly remove this and washed the cow out to prevent any infections from developing and inserted several tablets into the uterus.
The two other animals were the family horses both of which were lame and were being treated by the surgery; however both horses seemed to be recovering well. The infected feet of the horses were bandaged up and we were on our way again.
Although Kenwyn is a large animal practice, the vets are also willing to treat the farmers' dogs for any injuries they sustain. While we were at the surgery for lunch, a horse client brought in his 10 week Jackapoo (jack russellXpoodle) puppy for his first set of vaccinations.
After this we were on the road again, heading to a stables to see a horse that had been lame since the summer of 2010 and had been receiving ongoing treatment since then. The infection had already been removed from the foot and the farrier was on hand to trim and clip the hoof.
The horse is also being taken to Stud in March and so a swab had to be taken and sent to the farm where the horse is going to test for any problems with fertility.
The last case of the day was a Hereford Cow with Mastitis (udder infection) in 3/4 of the udder, the cow was given a dose of antibiotics (Nisamox) and the farmer was given instructions to repeat this over the next week and given milking tubes. The calf would have to be removed for a maximum of 6 hours while the treatment was being given
The animals on farms are not pets, they are a source of income to the farmers that own them, so although the welfare of the animals is of great importance, the farmers cannot afford to waste money on animals that are a 'dead loss'. Spending time with the vets at Kenwyn Surgery has given me a greater appreciation of how long and hard the day of a large animal vet can be but it also showed me how much the farmers depend on the honesty and skill of the vets that they employ.
I spent my day with Peter Sotherby.
The first job was a routine check at a family run Dairy farm with over 200 cows.
The purpose of the visit was to establish if the cows were in calf, this was done by driving each cow into the crush. Once in the crush the Ultra sound scanner was inserted and the uterus scanned to confirm the presence of a calf. If the cow is in calf it is released from the crush.
If no calf is detected the ovaries are scanned to check for follicles and any other possible problems are checked. Cows with follicles on the ovaries were given a jab and others were given a CIDR implant that is inserted into the uterus and should stimulate the cow into producing its own hormones.
This particular farm was using sexed semen on their cows to ensure that all the calves were female so that they could replace any of their cows that had been lost over the course of the year, however the conception rate for sexed semen is particularly low and a large percentage of the cows were not in calf.
Some of the cows were being described as 'dirty' meaning that they had picked up an infection after calving
Whilst on the farm, Peter carried out a follow up check on a cow that had been in for surgery for a displaced stomach and also saw a calf that had an injured toe on its foreleg.
After being completely disinfected and washed down, we were back in the car and on the way to the second farm.
The second farm was also a large dairy farm with approximately 400 cows in 1000 acres of land.
There were 4 animals on the farm that needed the attention the first being a cow suspected left displaced abomasum (LDA). This was quickly confirmed with a 'ping' test, when the abomasum becomes displaced it moves from the underside of the cow into the left hand side and fills with gas. Using a stethoscope and by flicking the area the stomach makes a pinging sound similar to that of a fully inflated balloon. Peter decided that the cow needed to be brought into the clinic for surgery as soon as possible. The cow had a temperature of 102.5 which was taken with a rectal thermometer and so was given a dose of broad spectrum antibiotic (Nisamox) in an attempt to restore its temperature before being brought in for the operation.
The second animal to be seen was a cow with retained afterbirth, Peter was able to quickly remove this and washed the cow out to prevent any infections from developing and inserted several tablets into the uterus.
The two other animals were the family horses both of which were lame and were being treated by the surgery; however both horses seemed to be recovering well. The infected feet of the horses were bandaged up and we were on our way again.
Although Kenwyn is a large animal practice, the vets are also willing to treat the farmers' dogs for any injuries they sustain. While we were at the surgery for lunch, a horse client brought in his 10 week Jackapoo (jack russellXpoodle) puppy for his first set of vaccinations.
After this we were on the road again, heading to a stables to see a horse that had been lame since the summer of 2010 and had been receiving ongoing treatment since then. The infection had already been removed from the foot and the farrier was on hand to trim and clip the hoof.
The horse is also being taken to Stud in March and so a swab had to be taken and sent to the farm where the horse is going to test for any problems with fertility.
The last case of the day was a Hereford Cow with Mastitis (udder infection) in 3/4 of the udder, the cow was given a dose of antibiotics (Nisamox) and the farmer was given instructions to repeat this over the next week and given milking tubes. The calf would have to be removed for a maximum of 6 hours while the treatment was being given
The animals on farms are not pets, they are a source of income to the farmers that own them, so although the welfare of the animals is of great importance, the farmers cannot afford to waste money on animals that are a 'dead loss'. Spending time with the vets at Kenwyn Surgery has given me a greater appreciation of how long and hard the day of a large animal vet can be but it also showed me how much the farmers depend on the honesty and skill of the vets that they employ.