Rural

Jo Grigg: why I love getting veterinarians on the radio

Not only are large animal vets treasure troves of wisdom, they have no filter when it comes to talking about anything and everything.

I love getting veterinarians on the radio.

Not only are large animal vets treasure troves of wisdom, they have no filter when it comes to talking about mating, death, birth, teaser rams, and sex pheromones.

One special vet you can listen to on our REX Rural Exchange podcast is Pete Anderson. Have a listen below.

He took Hamish and Rebecca through the topic of teaser rams and tupping. They both learned more than they bargained for.

Pete is known as the Flying Vet of Marlborough – his Piper Pawnee has taken him to many places across NZ and been splattered with plenty of cow pats from farm airstrips. He now works as a Stock Care consultant – helping farmers get the best lambing result and growth rates they can.

This week, Pete and Massey University vet and lecturer, Stuart Bruere, bought a group of final-year vet students to our farm in Marlborough. Of course, they were almost 90% young women – some with a Lincoln University degree already up their sleeve. The idea was to get on our hands and knees and introduce them to subterranean clover and the power of this legume on dryland hill country.

Taking full advantage of having 17 free veterinary opinions, I asked them about how hard it was to use a captive bolt and got some visual straight-shooting advice there. Another discussion was on why we love numbing lamb nuts (a new thing we do at tailing/castration day).

You can talk about anything to a Vet.