I’m pleased to write and share with you our very first monthly Farm & Equine blog, hopefully we will be able to share some interesting and informative cases, success stories and some fun too! I have been a qualified vet since June 2023 and really enjoy all mixed practice work.
The sun has made an appearance, and it’s starting to feel like summer, which makes driving round the countryside seeing the cows and calves, ewes and lambs and our equine friends a pleasure! 
The sporadic spells of sun hasn’t helped our laminitic four legged friends and this month has been busy taking x-rays of ponies feet. Luckily a lot of the ponies I have seen have either not yet had major changes to their pedal bone or have been corrected with remedial farriery. With the competition season in full swing, I went out to gastroscope a dressage horse to check for stomach ulcers to ensure top performance. This horse had a clear and healthy stomach so we could conclude the current feeding and training regime is working well for this horse.
Calving is still underway for some of our farm clients, and I was called out to a cow struggling to calve because her calf was upside down. This led to the cow requiring a Caesar and although she wasn’t too keen to see me when I first arrived, she settled well for the procedure. As the calvings continue, I have been busy with the occasional prolapse as well as some calves needing a bit of TLC to get them on their feet. Farmer’s are looking forward to their next calving season and I have been scanning cows to pregnancy diagnose them. This will hopefully lead to another busy period in our calendar in 6 months time!
Sheep sale season has started again with the first tup sales already underway. We have already had some of our pedigree breeders being very organised and have ordered up their synchronisation meds ready to get started with their AI and ET programmes.
We’ve all had a very busy month reviewing or creating new Herd Health Plans, these are a requirement for all QMS members for their annual inspections along with Health & Performance Reviews.
All in all July, albeit quiet, has provided some interesting cases, some emergencies but most importantly a lot of fun and I can’t wait to see what August has in store!
I look forward to writing another monthly round up soon,
Jess
