Hi Charlotte! Thanks for chatting with me today. So how long have you been a Vet?
So I graduated as a vet from University of Budapest in 2019, and I actually got what they call cum laude, which basically is a first in your degree, which is very hard to do. There was about six of us in a year that got it. It was a six year course, whereas most vet courses are five years. I did a degree previous to that, or half a degree, where I left with a diploma in veterinary biosciences from the University of Glasgow. I have been with Hook Norton for 5 years now, ever since I graduated.
What made you want to become a farm vet?
I never wanted to be a farm vet! I thought it was the easy option! But when I came to Hook Norton as a student, they quickly showed me I was wrong. I have learnt that you have to think on your toes and be really resilient and adapt to different situations.
I always wanted to do wildlife, mainly African wildlife. During a lot of my EMS as a student, and my spare time as a student, I’d often go to Botswana or Zimbabwe to gain experience and shadow the vets and kind of live in the bush, I guess, for a month to a couple of months at a time. We did a bit of everything.
Most of the veterinary groups function as small animal practices there, but then they see cows, goats, pigs, etc and get called out into the bush for emergencies or for projects like collaring animals for darting. Having been brought up pretty much in South Africa and born there, I’ve always been exposed to those kind of animals, so it felt a natural fit.
And that was just what I’ve always wanted to do from the day I can remember. It was either that or a bossy teacher, according to my parents. So I kind of think I’ve nailed both!
Wow, so quite a difference to over here then! So what brought you to Hook Norton Vets?
In my penultimate year of uni, I came to Hook Norton Veterinary Group, where I did farm placement. Basically, I’d seen a lot of everything else, but not too much farm. And obviously, the UK is very good for farming.
I wanted to get some decent experience and came to Hook Norton because they’re very well known. I also did a bit of experience when I did GCSEs with Hook Norton at the Charlbury branch. So I kind of already knew them, and I really loved it! The clients were great. They loved to laugh.
The vets are great. They are like the perfect balance in my eyes of having a good time, but also being serious and doing a really excellent job. And I loved that. I actually think you become better friends with your clients on the farm side. You get to know the farm and the people a lot better than on other departments because you are on-site with them more often. You understand why they work the way they do, what their goals are, what their business plans are, why they chose their animals that they have and why they’re striving for certain things.
At Hook Norton, from a farm perspective, we see a wide range of farm animals. We’re like 50-50 beef and dairy on the cattle side.
We have a lot of sheep. We have some goats and pigs and chickens, alpacas, rheas, all sorts of things, and I love the variability. I have my own sheep, so I have an interest in sheep as well, which is great. I really like the pedigree side, plus the commercial side. I love how the different contracts all ask for different things and keep you on your toes!
I like being pushed and challenged. And I feel like I get that here. And I feel like I have a very good team to support me towards my own goals and own development. Hook Norton is a really forward-thinking vets, and we really push the boundaries by going above and beyond, and that is why I’ve never left, truthfully.
I have progressed fairly quickly within the ranks at Hook Norton and became senior vet, I think just over two years ago now.
So come on then, what is your favourite emergency!?
My favourite emergency is probably a caesarean. And I know that sounds a bit run-of-the-mill, but actually they’re really varied.
No caesarean’s ever the same. Very, very rarely you get a textbook caesarean where everything is perfectly placed and you don’t really have to fight the calf or the cow. And obviously there’s so many complications to it and a lot that can go wrong.
There’s so many different setups that in itself is a challenge. A lot of farmers you’ll find are actually squeamish (although they might not admit it to you!). And obviously you’re very limited as to where you’re doing it. You don’t have these fancy surgery rooms where everything’s perfect. So it’s often you trying to perfect your own skills in the middle of a random environment that you’re dealing with.
And I like that. I like that I have to think on my feet. I like that I have to challenge myself.
Is your background farming?
No, I don’t come from a farming background at all! My dad used to be a footballer.
He used to play in the premiership over here. And then he, when he retired, basically, he became a football manager and technical director.
My mum used to be a financial director. She retired when they moved back out to South Africa. My brother’s a pilot but I suppose the closest you’ll get to is my great granddad had a smallholding in Derbyshire where he had a few pigs and geese and things like that. But not a proper farming background at all. And I haven’t married a farmer. I’ve married a builder! Although we do have pet sheep, three dogs and a cat. And he would quite happily have 100 animals if I allowed it!
But it doesn’t seem to be a challenge, really, in the farming world, you learn fast, you learn from farmers. They’re really happy to talk to you and teach you about lots of different things. And they don’t judge you for it, they just want you to get stuck in!
Ok, so big question, but what do you think the future of farming looks like?
Yes, that is a big question! There’s a lot of conversation around it at the minute. A lot about regenerative farming and sustainability.
There’s a lot of carbon footprinting. In the practice, we do it anyway. But also, a lot of the big dairies have to do it nowadays.
So it’s something that we’re constantly looking to change and develop. We already have a couple of clients that are regenerative farmers. We have lots of people that are organic, and we have lots of people that are your standard commercial units.
A lot of our farms have contracts with large supermarkets, which are constantly being revised for better welfare and lots of changing stipulations.
It’s all quite varied. And I think that’s the beauty of farming as well. There’s so many different options of how you deal with it.
And it’s not quite as easy as “Everyone needs to do regenerative farming”, because every client is limited by what they have around them, what land they have, how they can deal with their animals and their land. So it’s a tough one. I definitely think we’re (especially in the time that I’ve been here) we’ve been a lot more responsible with antibiotics and wormers and fly insecticide, etc.
So I think it’s a definite constant conversation that is developing. Farming is very difficult at the minute. They’ve had a lot of their funding taken away by the government. There’s a lot of initiatives going on and they have to get a lot of points to get them through levels. There are grants and things available, but it is a really difficult time.
Another constant challenge is the ever-changing climate causing issues leading to shortages of bedding and food and new emerging diseases, such as Schmallenberg, Bluetongue, bird flu and the old faithful TB.
And I take my hat off to the farmers, because they are excellent at bouncing back. They’re very, very resilient. They think outside the box.
They’re constantly trying to develop and stay ahead of the game. They are a really quite inspiring profession to be in and be involved with. I find a lot of our clients are very forward thinking and that pushes us to be.
