I showed the vet students slides today that I have taken over the years to illustrate my journey as a vet. There were photos of Gundagai, a lovely rural town in New South Wales. It reminded me of this lyric.

Along the road to Gundagai
by Jack O'Hagan
 
There's a scene that lingers in my memory,
Of an old bush home that I long to see;
That's why I am yearning just to be returning
along the road to Gundagai.
 
Chorus
There's a track winding back to an old-fashioned shack,
Along the road to Gundagai;
Where the blue gums are growing, and the Murrumbidgee's flowing
Beneath that sunny sky,
Where my mummy and daddy are waiting for me
And the pals of my childhood once more I will see;
Then no more will I roam when I'm heading right for home,
Along the road to Gundagai.

Today was the first lecture of my Practitioner in Residence Visiting speakers program. It went very well, considering the mad dash from the Melbourne airport on roads I don't know, after the speaker's plane was delayed by over an hour and we had less than 25 minutes to get back in time to Werribee. Needless to say, we were late, but not by tooo much - only about 10 minutes. Thank goodness other staff and the kind sponsor, Philip Mawkes from Medfin, kept the students entertained and made sure everything was ready for Henk  The speaker, Henk Kleynhans,  took it in his stride and presented an excellent, interesting and inspiring talk about how he started his own business and how one could make a veterinary practice scalable.

THE FIVE FREEDOMS

According to WSPA UK, the average British consumer has consumed a total of 550 poultry, 36 pigs, 36 sheep and 8 cattle by the age of seventy.
The British government first reviewed the welfare of farm animals in intensive husbandry systems in 1965 and proposed that all farm animals should have the freedom to "stand up, lie down, turn around, groom themselves and stretch their limbs". These very minimal standards then became known as the five freedoms. In 1993 the UK Farm Animal Welfare Council expanded these basic definitions. The Five Freedoms, which have since been accepted by almost all animal welfare bodies worldwide, now read as follows:
 
1. Freedom from thirst, hunger and malnutrition - by ready access to clean, fresh water and a suitable diet to
maintain full health and vigour.
2. Freedom from discomfort -by providing a suitable environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area.
3. Freedom from pain, injury and disease - by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment.
4. Freedom to express normal behaviour- by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animals own kind.
5. Freedom from fear and distress - by ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering.
 
 The Farm Animal Welfare Council states that an animal's welfare, whether on farm, in transit, at a market or at a place of slaughter should be considered in terms of the "Five Freedoms". The welfare of an animal includes its physical and mental state and good animal welfare implies both fitness and a sense of well-being.
The Five Freedoms form a logical and comprehensive framework for analysis of welfare within any system and for any species. In any system good stockmanship and a thorough knowledge of the animals being dealt with are key factors in ensuring their welfare.
 
In applying the Five Freedoms to a dairy farm the following applies:
 
1. Freedom from hunger and thirst may be provided by adequate management and stockmanship which ensure that the necessary quantities of the right kind of food and water are available daily. It also needs to be distributed in a way that ensures access for all the animals. An understanding of digestive physiology and nutrient requirements, as well as improved methods for conserving winter feed, should mean that properly managed cattle should not need to suffer from inadequate nutrition.
 
2. Freedom from discomfort can be achieved - even in open grazing areas - by the provision  of artificial protection from the weather where no natural shelter or shade is available. When cattle are housed, a well-ventilated shed, a comfortably bedded, dry lying area and frequently cleaned passageways are necessary to avoid discomfort and to reduce the risk of injury.
 
3. Freedom from pain, injury and disease should be an aim of any good manager. Lameness in dairy cattle can be a significant problem and should be treated promptly. Mastitis prevention and early treatment is imperative. Common diseases should be vaccinated against.
 
4. Freedom to express normal behaviour is usually provided when a cow is at pasture. If cows are to be housed, buildings should be designed with this principle in mind. Early removal of the calf from its mother is a necessary evil in most dairy systems. In our area, early removal of the calf  minimizes the risk of the calf contacting Bovine Johnes Disease, or Salmonella.
 
5. Freedom from fear and distress is hard to achieve and there are times when fear stimulates beneficial avoidance by animals. Good stock-men can and should minimise fear and distress through calm, patient and sympathetic handling. It is also valuable to handle heifer calves frequently and gently while young to habituate them to people.
 
 Maintaining good welfare does not only benefit the animal. A well managed, stress free, healthy animal will also be much more productive and will reward the good stock man.
 
 

Bovine Pestivirus under Extensive Farming Conditions in Australia

Cause:
Pestivirus or Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus belongs to the Flaviviridae family and the Pestivirus genus. Human Hepatitis C belongs to the same family of viruses, but is a member of the Flavivirus genus. Only Type 1 occurs in Australia. It is less aggressive than Type 2, which occurs in the USA and UK, amongst others.
History and prevalence:
It has been known to be present in Australia for about 40 years. Approximately 90% of herds have animals that test positive for antibodies against this disease, therefore it is widely distributed.
How does it spread:
Calves which survive in utero infection between 30 and 90 days of gestation are born persistently infected (PI). Their developing immune systems do not recognize the virus as a foreign entity and do not produce any antibodies against the disease. Occasionally infection between day 90 and 125 can also result in the birth of a PI calf.  These so-called PI calves are a potent and constant source of virus, excreting vast amounts in every secretion and excretion - eg saliva, urine, faeces, semen etc.
In the general population 0.5% to 1% of animals at 1 to 2 years of age may be PI's. In certain infected mobs of calves it may be as high as 50%.
PI animals often have deranged nervous systems and are more likely than other animals to be aggressive and jump fences, therefore posing a risk to neighbouring herds and farms.

In an average herd situation, in a herd of 100 calves running together and occasionally being yarded together, all should be infected by the time they are 12 months old if there is a single PI present. This in itself is not a big problem, as the disease's main impact is on the developing foetus. An animal infected before breeding under extensive conditions rarely show symptoms. Once infected, all (except the PI's) develop antibodies and are immune for life. It can however cause more severe illness in feedlots.

A problem develops when pregnant susceptible animals are exposed to the PI animal, for instance by mixing groups of cattle that were previously separated, or by a PI animal jumping a fence. The pregnant animals come into contact with the infected animal and its excretions/secretions and become infected. Bulls may also be PI's and infect the cows they mate with.  Depending on conditions the virus can survive for a few hours to a few days in the environment. If a cow aborts an infected foetus, the foetus and placenta are a source of the virus for a short period. Animals which become infected after birth, regardless of their age, rarely show symptoms, but they are viraemic for 7 to 10 days. They secrete small numbers of virus; usually insufficient to infect other animals, though there have been instances of the Type 1 virus spreading from transiently infected animals. Type 2 is more likely to spread to in contact animals in this way.

Symptoms:
If breeding cows are infected close to the time of mating, there will be reduced conception and cows will return to service. Infection later in the 1st trimester of pregnancy causes embryonic death, abortion, stillbirth, the birth of weak non-viable calves and the birth of PI's.
Infection in the second trimester leads to congenital defects, such as eye defects and cerebellar hyperplasia.
Infection in the third trimester does not cause any problems. The foetus mounts an immune response and is born immune to BVDV and is seropositive (has antibodies in his bloodstream)

PI calves are often small, are poor do-ers and immunological cripples. They are prone to common infections such as ringworm, and are reservoirs of other infections.  A PI cow will always give birth to a PI calf. (or abort?)

Young animals that contract BVDV may show mild transient respiratory symptoms, but are often asymptomatic. They have antibodies 13 to 19 days after exposure and remain immune for life. The exception is animals in feedlots. They can develop severe respiratory disease and diarrhoea.
Non pregnant adult animals show no symptoms. However, BVDV does suppress the immune system and makes animals more susceptible to other infections for up to two months after the initial infection.

Mucosal Disease:

This condition only occurs in PI's after a superinfection with a cytopathogenic strain of BVDV which arises as a mutant form of the persisting virus in a given PI animal. It causes ulceration of the buccal cavity and alimentary tract and leads to the death of the animal. As is the case with their original infection, they do not recognize the mutant virus as foreign and do not mount an immune response. This mutant strain only needs to arise in one PI in a herd and will rapidly spread to other PI's in the mob, due to their immune tolerance. This results in sudden death of clusters of PI's.
The mutant virus does not pose a risk to the rest of the herd.  50% of PI's will usually die in the first year of life. Half or more of the remainder die in the following year. Sometimes a PI will survive for a number of years. A female PI can breed successfully, but her calf will always be a PI.


sources:

www.bvdvaustralia.com
Dr. Peter Kirkland, Alison Bradford, Bruce Watt, David Gardiner and other Rural Land Protection Board District Veterinarians in NSW. E-mail communications.

Dear Richard Branson,

I am freaking out here!! I am a visiting Practitioner in Residence at Melbourne Uni Vet School and have arranged my first lunchtime speaker for today. He chose to fly with Virgin Blue because Jetstar apparently is often late. Now his flight is an hour late - landing at 12h25. That gives us only 25 mintes to get to Werribee  in time - impossible to do legally (and in my old rented car!). The lecture will start late, time will be insufficient, the speaker and I will be stressed and that is no way to start the program.

The very least you can do is sponsor the rest of the lectures - lunches and speakers expenses!

Practitioner in Residence

Wow, I have been the Practitioner in Residence at Melbourne Uni for 6 days (spread over two weeks) now.
Everybody has been most kind and helpful. The students are great and enthusiastic, the staff supportive.
I have lined up speakers for almost all the talks, but need to concentrate on sponsors next week! It would have been a lot easier if I had more local contacts! Some companies have already agreed to sponsor lunches, but I need about 6 more. Once I have the admin sorted, I want to spend much more time in clinics, learning what I can from the excellent lecturers.

I based my first tutorial on a Facebook group feedback (Veterinary Employment and Locum Network). Thanks colleagues for your great feedback! The second group had some of the same, but more on how to act and what to say at interviews.

I am trying to put together a slide show on my history as a vet, but most of my photos are in albums at home or on my old computer! However, I will get there. It is fun talking to the students! The Vic AVA has also invited me to talk to first year students on the 19th of March.

For now, the biggest challenge is finding places - especially when I have to drive to Melbourne in the old, sad looking car I have rented at a very reasonable price! It seems to be going just fine, though! If you are coming to Melbourne for a few weeks, contact Duncan Benn at 0407352679 for a cheap car. He is a mechanic and maintains them himself!

Wally, the red tractor and Buttermouse.

Wally, the red tractor, was busy ploughing the damp earth after the recent rain. Grasshoppers and other insects flew up ahead of his wheels. He loved the smell of the freshly turned moist earth. So did the white herons, who came flocking to where he was working. Some caught the insects flying up ahead of him. Others walked behind, picking up fat white grubs in the freshly turned earth. For the birds, this was a feast.

On the other side of the land stood a herd of cows, watching all the excitement. Once the land was ploughed and raked, Jim, the farmer, was going to sow oats there. With the winter rains, it would grow fast and produce excellent fodder for the cows.

Wally was enjoying all the attention. He liked to make the birds and animals happy. But then he noticed that one of the cows was standing all alone on the far side of the field. Her head was hanging low and she was the only one not looking at Wally ploughing the field. What on earth could be wrong with her, Wally wondered?

He lifted up the plough and drove over to where she was standing. Whoa, said farmer Jim. Where do you think we’re going? We are not done here yet! But then he looked up and saw the lone cow. Oh no, he said, it is Buttermouse, my best milk cow.!Something must be wrong with her.

When Wally stopped, Jim jumped off and ran to Buttermouse. He stroked her nose and scratched her ears, but she paid no attention to him.  You are feeling a bit hot, Buttermouse, said Jim. What is the matter? But Buttermouse did not even moo. I think you may be getting sick, Jim said. Come to think of it, you produced a bit less milk than usual this morning. I think we should call the vet. The ploughing can wait.

Jim took  his mobile phone out of his pocket. Luckily he had saved the vet, Dr Marianne’s number on speed dial. Hi Jim, Dr. Marianne said. I haven’t heard from you for a while. Things must be going well at Peregrine. I’m afraid not, Jim said, Buttermouse seems to be feeling sick. Please can you come and see her? Sure, Jim, I am coming right away, said Dr. Marianne.

So Jim and Wally waited with Buttermouse. She just stood there ,  feeling very sorry for herself.
One by one the birds flew away from the land. The other cows were wondering what was going on and came to see. Move along girls, said Jim,  Buttermouse is not feeling well. Mooo, said Creamcup, Buttermouse’s daughter, I want to stay here. Moo, moo, moo, moo said all the other cows - we will stay too. Actually they were more inquisitive than concerned.

Soon they saw a rapidly approaching dust cloud coming over the hill. Dr. Marianne was on her way! She stopped just before she ran into the herd of cows and shoo-ed them away. Then she drove forward and stopped next to Buttermouse. She looked at the colour of her gums. They were rather pale. Then she took her temperature, which was very high. She placed her stethoscope on Buttermouse’s chest. Her heart was beating very fast. Then she felt whether Buttermouse’s stomach was moving by making a fist and pushing it into Buttermouse’s left flank.  Then she told farmer Jim that Buttermouse had Redwater, which is a disease spread by ticks biting the cows. She took a drop of blood from Buttermouse’s ear and spread it on a glass slide before staining it with special stains she kept  in jars. She plugged a microscope into her car’s cigarette lighter and examined the blood smear. Oh NO, she exclaimed. It is the dangerous kind. We will have to treat all the cows to prevent it from spreading. When they heard this, the healthy cows all ran away.

Buttermouse was too sick to run, and anyway, she wanted to get better, even if it meant having injections. Dr. Marianne gave poor Buttermouse three injections. Now Wally and Jim and Dr. Marianne had to round up all the other cows. Jim and Wally went to the left and Jim and Wally to the right. When they came closer, Jim and Dr. Marianne  herded them on foot into the small camp with the crush, while Wally and the bakkie blocked their escape route. Finally they had them in the crush. Once the gate was closed the cows were pressed close together and could not move, but they sure made a lot of noise! They moo-ed and moaned all the time while they were in the crush. Quiet now cows, said Dr Marianne as she quickly injected every cow. Because they were still healthy they only got one injection each. It did not even hurt much and was over before they knew it. While Dr. Marianne injected them, farmer Jim treated them for ticks.

By the time they were all down, the sun was low in the western  sky. The ploughing would have to wait for the next day. Farmer Jim woke Wally early the next morning. When they got to the field they were happy to see Buttermouse grazing happily with the other cows. None of the others got sick. They were treated just in time. Wally dropped the plough and started to  turn over the sweet scented earth once again in neat row after row, while the cows admired his handiwork and the hungry birds came flocking in to follow the plough.