Vet Med - Farm Placements

I was wondering what others who are interested in veterinary medicine did for their farm work placements? Did you shadow a vet? Or got to a vet practice that spealised in large animal work? Or did you just help the farmer out?

And lastly has anyone else been having problems in regards to transport for these placements :confused:

Reply 1

horsecrazy

Hello
For my farm placements I went to a dairy farm, poultry farm and sheep farm at lambing time and helped the farmer ie. milking, assisting with difficult lambings. You could try and shadow a vet when on farm visits, I think its important to get a few weeks on a farm as well as this. Transport was quite difficult for me, but where theres a will theres a way, if your using public transport you may need to walk , or try bagging a lift from parent/friends!
Good luck!

Reply 2

silkymouse1

I went to 2 dairy farms where I milked the cows, a sheep farm where I followed the farmer around and asked her all kinds of questions, a pig farm where I assisted with everything including IVF treatments, and a large animal and equine vets, where I shadowed vets among other things. My Dad took me to all of them :smile:

Reply 3

Sheilz001

I helped (and still helping) a farmer with his cows, calving etc (its quite handy living in a small village with lots of friendly farmers) I've been lambing, to a piggery, and to an abbotoir (if that counts as farmy, well its to do with farmers and their produce anyway) Also had quite a bit of horsey experience, thought a few riding lessons and volunteering for the RDA for a whole summer holidays! I've been very lucky, i've always been around farms, always visiting my local ones, which are just up the road, for lambing since i was little. I havnt been to a dairy farm yet, (still pending) theres none in the village, but plenty dairy farmers come into the vets that i work at, so i'll have to arrange something soon, as i was told at my interview that it was very important to have dairy experience!

Reply 4

Sugar_Puff_Fairy

I have only done lambing at farms so far (unless you count a community farm!) but I have 2 weeks on a pig farm lined up for august :biggrin:

My dad usually takes me too :smile:

Dads are great lol. With the lambing, I followed the farmer, asked him loads of questions and did a few things that he thought were okay for me to do. I also learnt how to command his sheepdog which was pretty cool!

Reply 5

SlipperyWhenWet

I shadowed a large animal vet for a week or so, i.e. went on a few calls with him. I did it when I was on holiday with my family in Scotland. However some vets are a bit funny about that - insurance reasons I think.
The best thing to do is get on farms. I went lambing when I was on a different holiday in Scotland with my family! We rented a cottage right by the farm. The farmer let me do a lot, lambing ewes having trouble, tube feeding lambs etc. I also went to a pig farm which was part of an agricultural college. I also spent a little time on a dairy farm as well. The dairy farm was in my village so I cycled there. The pig farm was in my town but not in cycling distance and with no public transport so my dad took me, but they did have accommodation available - quite a lot of farms do, esp. at lambing time.

Now I'm at vet school and have a car, so getting to these farms in the holidays is a wee bit easier!

Reply 6

leggielass

Hiya, I went to lots of different farms and mucked in. The vet schools look more favourably on farm placements than vet- they'll teach you that bit. I only had a weeks vet exp when i applied but i wouldn't reccomend this as you have to be sure that this is what you want to do! I think i got in on the merit of spending a few years doing a part time job at one place, sticking at it and being promoted as well as a small range of different species.

Actually doing is better than watching a farm vet, partly because you develop better personal skills and because you can answer questions about the job second nature.

The only problem with doing lots of farm work is that some people are cheeky enough to say that they've been lambing since they were 8 etc....when they haven't developed hazard perception, let alone the ability to gain practical experience. sorry... I rant.....

Anyway, its really worth getting high quality placements if you can so that they sound good, and more impportantly that you learn to do things by the book. I had to grit my teeth, write to the Duke of Devonshire himself and go to an interview in order to get my farm placements on the chatsworth estate, but they were amazing, i had great experiences and they took me back and paid me for sheperding when i got in to uni.

Don't forget though- EVERYONE does lambing, so do some but then go do something that requires a bit more thought and makes you stand out from the crowd- your personal statement HAS to be fascinating!!

Also- I recommend learning to drive b4 uni- there's huge waiting lists for uni students and you may find yourself skint and with not nuff time at uni- and you NEED it for placements and won't get a job without a license.

Good Luck!!

YAY, I HAVE FINALLY STARTED MY CLINICAL COURSE. ONLY NOW (3RD YR) AM I LEARNING HOW TO BE A VET!! ... MY MATES AT OTHER UNIS HAVE TO WAIT TIL NEXT YEAR FOR THAT PRIVELAGE THO......NAH NAH NEE NAHH NAHHHHHH!

Reply 7

deviantmuse

Thanks for the replies :smile:

It's given a clearer idea of what to go for.
I'm learning to drive but I don't think I'll be passing anytime soon yet! And my parents can't take me so I'm still a little worried about the whole transport thing, just hope a solution comes up soon!