Vets find plenty of work

Press, 10 January 1986, Page 18

Vets find plenty of work

Rural veterinarians are finding plenty of work j despite the down turn in ( farmers’ fortunes, said the , president of the New Zea- • land Veterinary Association, Dr Peter Trim, recently. ,

This increase in work was heartening, he added, because running costs for practices were escalating at an alarming rate. A country-wide tour of veterinary association

branches showed him that rural practices were being kept very busy. This observation was supported by the job market for veterinarians which was buoyant. New graduates were finding it easy to find work and more positions were being advertised than were being filled, he said. This was in contrast to five years previously when graduates being produced by Massey University were having great difficulty in finding positions. The' healthy employment climate was due mainly to the diversification into goats and deer and the very sound position of New Zealand bloodstock, both thoroughbreds and standardbreds, he said. Embryo transfer in goats

was an important factor along with the rapid demand for general veterinary services for goats. The veterinary profession was responding, he said.

A recent course on diseases of goats was sold out with a record 145 veterinarians booking out the course facilities at Massey University. Due to the level of interest the Continuing Education Foundation of the Veterinary Association would run more courses and look at other means of information transfer on goat health and husbandry. It was very encouraging, Dr Trim noted, that during these hard times fanners were tending to consult veterinarians more over standard purchases of animal remedies.