layout: true background-image: url(../../images/slide_background.jpg) background-size: cover class: middle --- # Being busy, work satisfaction and learning ### Long Quotes --- ### Quote 1 --- ### I get a lot of satisfaction from going that extra mile so looking at the big picture as opposed to the individual animal and finding out actually what is causing the greatest loss on this farm. Whether that loss be monetary loss, or whether that loss be loss of livestock, or loss in terms of animals suffering with a disease. *(cont. ...)* --- ### If I can pinpoint that, put in place a plan to deal with that and then successfully execute that plan with the farmer - I think that’s probably one of the satisfying things that I can get.” --- ### Quote 2 --- ### “They’re used to being correct and they are used to their instincts being correct because they are experienced vets. And they generally are correct, because they’ve seen it so many times before. So that when they then move in to management, they think that will apply as well with the result that they then start making mistakes. *(cont. ...)* --- ### Because that doesn’t apply. Because actually, this is something new that they don’t know everything about. That they’re not going to be able to trust their instincts - actually needs a bit more time to just sit down and work out.” --- ### Quote 3 --- ### “So, the classic one … would be TB testing where not only is it mundane, it can be physically uncomfortable. You might get cold, it’s boring, you might get frustrated at the handling facilities, and you don’t feel like you’re making a difference because you feel like you’re banging your head against a disease control brick wall. I admit, I hardly do that anymore but when I did do it, there were still strategies *(cont. ...)* --- ### - I used to quite enjoy the tests where you got in a good rhythm. You knew what your job was in the machine and you did it well and you had a bit of banter. So there are always ways of looking at it. But if you’ve got a grumpy farmer and terrible handling system, then you have to resort to your sense of humour and then it just becomes a good story for later.” --- ### Quote 4 --- ### “When it goes great you’re on top of the world and when it doesn’t the reality bites and you lick your wounds a little bit. But I know that when I stand back and think about it logically, is there anything I would have done different? Anything I could have done – could the farmer have done anything different? *(cont. ...)* --- ### If my answer is “no” in all those cases … and even if the answer is yes, all I can do is say, “I’ll have to learn from it”. And unfortunately, that might be at the expense of the animal but I think that is something that experience has taught me.” --- ### Quote 5 --- ### “I like doing farmers meetings – doing teaching. It’s really the big thing for me, having the time and getting a lot of people in a room and having conversations. That’s what I find the most rewarding in the job, definitely. About that, I think it’s the facilitating social interaction for the farmers. *(cont. ...)* --- ### I like getting lots of people who otherwise wouldn’t see each other into a room together. I find that quite rewarding in itself, just outside the teaching, allowing that interaction is really nice to see and I think they really enjoy it.” --- ### Quote 6 --- ### “… The other thing – is making myself have the confidence to ask about other things on the farm, wider than vet things, e.g. feeding, management. If it’s a farm I’ve not been to before, getting them to show me round, so I can see where everything is, get a bigger picture. *(cont. ...)* --- ### It gets a bit more interesting for me and it makes the farmer think you’re interested as well. And they tend to be a bit more open then. I know you don’t always have time but sometimes you can do a few minutes at the end of a call.” --- ### Quote 7 --- ### “A good clinical win, where you didn’t think an animal was going to get better. Or, you went in, you knew what was wrong, and you fixed the problem, or even if you just ended suffering - so I don’t think even euthanasia is a negative outcome if it’s the right thing for the animal or the owner attached to it. *(cont. ...)* --- ### So, basically coming away having helped in whatever small way is job satisfaction from a clinical aspect or having learnt something new and been able to apply it. I always think that is cool.” --- ### Quote 8 --- ### “One of my clients, you know has struggled financially from day to day and month to month. One of the things that we’ve identified there, well we’ve identified a couple of things over the years, I’ve been doing his routine for three years now. First thing, he was having problems was displaced abomasums – he’s got a dairy farm – and we put in place a plan to reduce them. We were successful in doing that. *(cont. ...)* --- ### Then he had some issues with digital dermatitis – which is a foot condition – and we’ve managed that by putting a foot bath in. And now the biggest issue is with his young stock. So, its all about going and finding evidence that that’s the issue, evidence for what might be causing that issue and then actually doing something and putting that in place and what you end up starting to do” --- ### Quote 9 --- ### “I think you have to accept, particularly in farm animal practice, the diagnostic tools and health monitoring available is fairly limited – not like human medicine where a pregnancy is monitored throughout and in great detail. Your first contact is likely to be at the birth and you don’t have scans, can’t listen to the heartbeat *(cont. ...)* --- ### – you don’t have the same sophisticated equipment so you have to accept that you haven’t got the same range of diagnostics that you’ve got in other veterinary fields or in human medicine. That’s the main reason why a lot of these things don’t go as you like. And that’s how I approach things now.” --- ### Quote 10 --- ### “I think it is harder now. Used to be a lot of the farms didn’t have calving machines, didn’t have calving jacks – they weren’t dealing with big Belgium Blues 40 years ago – we had native British breeds – Hereford, Angus, British Friesians – and then the continental breeds started coming in and the calves got bigger and calving became more difficult – the whole pressure on young vets to produce positive results *(cont. ...)* --- ### – felt it was a bit easier in those days to come along with a calving machine and a bit of experience and actually be able to calve things but on the flip side we weren’t as good at doing caesareans then – now, it’s a bit of a doddle in most places to do a caesarean– they’ve got geared up with proper caesarean operation gates and yolks and lights so it’s become a lot easier – so from that point of view it’s easier. *(cont. ...)* --- ### And a lot of farmers have more experience of doing caesars so if it’s a difficult calving and the only option is to do a caesarean then it’s easier for young vets to go and do one.” --- ### Quote 11 --- ### “I left practice 8 years ago. The activities that I enjoyed – 2 ways – firstly, the social context which made the job enjoyable. You tend to see families / individuals over many years which gives a positive social slant to your visits but (secondly) in terms of the job – when I felt I had achieved something or done something useful that had led to a positive outcome – a technical procedure (e.g. caesarean) *(cont. ...)* --- ### or more routine tasks like fertility visits that requires a skill you’ve practised for many years and you find that you’re making a positive contribution to the farm or a positive contribution to the health and welfare of the animals.”