26 | South Waikato: South Waikato Veterinary Services T T Sue Russell After hours part of community focus The new Tokoroa clinic has benefited both staff and patients. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT 07 886 7356 / 0274 967 875 john@stevenselectrical.co.nz 50 Manfield Street, Tokoroa www.stevenselectrical.co.nz Quality Local Veterinary Services The South Waikato Veterinary Services team is committed to providing top quality and extensive professional services to the Tokoroa, Putaruru, Whakamaru, Mangakino, Tirohanga and Atiamuri areas. With a team of 14 veterinarians and 13 support staff across 3 clinics we have your needs covered. Our skilled and experienced team help service both dairy farm health and production as well as companion animal medicine and surgery Small Animals Large Animals Dairy Resources Farm Animal Services Vaccinations Desexing Lab Testing Surgeries www.swvs.co.nz Tokoroa 2 Satco Dr - P (07) 886 6413 Mon-Fri: 8am-5pm, Sat: 9.30am-12pm Whakamaru 108 SH 30 - P (07) 882 8685 Mon-Fri: 9am-4:30pm Putaruru 75 Tirau St - P (07) 883 3018 Mon-Fri: 8:30am-5pm South Waikato Veterinary Services is based in Tokoroa, with retail supply and service centres also in Putaruru and Whakamaru. While the bulk of vet services are delivered through the Tokoroa clinic, a vet does also travel once a week to Putaruru to offer clients consultations. Whakamaru tends to operate as a facility for customers to pick up animal health products. Vaughan Parker is the longest serving Director of the business, which was started by Dr Steve Whittaker in the 1980’s, and over the years, as it has grown in size and service offering and other directors have come into the company. Today, it’s one of the largest rural mixed practices in the South Waikato region, offering these services from a modern clinic with great facilities and a large retail space. The recent addition of a self-service dog-wash at the front of the building is proving popular. Recently, the Tokoroa clinic moved to a new building which Vaughan says is in a much more practical location than previously. “We now enjoy plenty of parking space for clients, delivery trucks and couriers, and for those bringing in trailers. There’s more room for us to operate in and the team working from Tokoroa are really enjoying the change. Another plus is the large grassed area adjacent to the building to walk in patients and assist in rehabilitation post surgery”. The building was bought back in 2018 and the physical move took place in 2022, allowing time for a complete change in its floor plan to best accommodate a day to day working practice. Vaughan says the business got through Covid well, veterinary businesses being deemed essential services at the outset of the pandemic. “From the dairy perspective, which is a lot of our work, it was a relatively quiet time and the lockdown coincided with a time dairy farm work wasn’t at its peak, which was very fortunate.” Vets are kept busy across a wide footprint, which extends from Okaroire, a farming district north of Tirau through to just north of Taupo and west to Arapuni. There are 29 permanent staff plus two temps. This includes 14 Vets, with three currently on maternity leave, so its a sizeable entity. One vet is also on leave undertaking a gruelling journey rowing the North West Passage in Canada. “It is something Tupps has wanted to do for a while. She is from Scotland and the expedition she has just embarked on will be daunting. My understanding is that with a changing climate the ice is opening up more making this trip, once considered impossible, possible.” As a Vet of many years experience Vaughan says the training of Vets is pretty much the same, with a person undertaking general learning to qualify before specialising into areas of interest. His, has always been to work with cattle out on farms and today that is still where he spends most of his time. He’s also proud of the fact that South Waikato Veterinary Services has remained a private practice. “We think of ourselves as an important part of the community. We’re not part of a corporate brand or model and our focus is to deliver what this community needs in terms of veterinary support both within the towns and out in the rural settings.” And while many Vets are choosing not to offer after hours care for clients animals, the team at South Waikato Veterinary Services still do, and intend to for as long as they can sustain it. “Offering after hours isn’t an easy thing to do. There’s lots to weigh up including care of staff, the economics of it balanced with how easily the community has access to alternative emergency care. In the district we’re in, we know that if we didn’t offer this additional care on call, that animals would suffer given the distances and costs involved in travelling to larger centres.” The business is split 80:20 between dairy and companion animal work. Dairy is the bread and butter of what the team do, with most vets regularly visiting farms. Meanwhile there is also a busy companion animal service with the vets assisted by skilled and knowledgeable veterinary nurses and administration staff. For more complicated testing or procedures, they have good relationships with referral veterinarians across the Waikato to ensure pets receive the best quality care. “When you are at the size we are, a big part of operating successfully is having a great team culture and brilliant support staff. This team effort and support helps ease the burden of the long hours staff are sometimes asked to do”. Being part of a wider farming community, knowing clients for years and years offers Vaughan and his colleagues the opportunity to see the great nature of what working on the land means. “It’s rewarding to see those who started out as young farm workers, mature and work their way through to herd and farm ownership”.
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