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LOCAL VETERINARY SURGEONS PREACH WHAT THEY PRACTISE!

THE Association of Veterinary Surgeons Practising in Northern Ireland members held their 24th annual meeting at the Veterinary Research Lab. in Omagh.
There was the usual big attendance of vets from all over the Province, as well as some welcome guests from the border areas of the Republic of Ireland.
The outgoing president of the association, Jim Drayne, of Castlewellan, opened the meeting, and gave a special welcome to Dr Lydia Brown, FRCVS, president of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, which is the governing body of vets in the UK. As usual, the meeting was addressed by four practising vets from the Province.
Ian Millar, from Earlswood Veterinary Hospital, Belfast, gave a wide ranging and informative demonstration of the recognition of conditions of the eye. David Harding, of Harding Frizzell McKee, Coleraine, spoke on dairy cow nutrition. His talk included practical and simple advice which could be given by veterinary surgeons to their clients as well as a description of the theory behind modern nutritional systems. He also pointed out that vets must become more involved with the business of their clients and that it was more important than ever that a partnership was formed on the farm between farmer, vet and all the other advisers so that farming could meet the demands of legislation and consumer demand and maximising profit.
MASTERLY
Robert Steele, of Comber gave a masterly demonstration of the vetting of a horse for purchase.
This procedure requires great thoroughness and skill with many pitfalls for the unwary. The quality of his demonstration can be judged by the way he retained his audience despite the onset of darkness and a smattering of rain. Hans Coetzee, of McDowell, Allison and Laughlin, Ballymoney, concluded the educational part of the day with a truly excellent presentation of a study of the financial benefits of fertility programs on nine North Antrim dairy farms. This study was assisted by the Veterinary Surgeons Supply Company (VSSCo) award for 1998.
He described how a simply fertility scheme had been set up with visits every three weeks on nine farms which had not previously had routine fertility wort. done. Using Milk Recording data, he was able to show that for each £1 spent on fertility work by the fanner there was a benefit of over £6 to the farmer.
While those vets involved in fertility work have always been confident that it was profitable for the farmer, this is the first time that the benefit has been quantified in Northern Ireland.
For the excellence of his presentation, Hans was awarded the Frank Mullan Memorial Trophy. This was judged by the Prof Stuart McNulty and Dr Lydia Brown. In making the award, Dr Brown commented on the high overall standard of me work presented. Following the scientific meeting, the annual general meeting of the AVSPNI took place at which Andy Hillan, of Firmount Veterinary Clinic, Antrim was elected president for the incoming year.
OMAGH FUND
The evening dinner was held at a hotel in Omagh. For nearly 25 years, the January meeting in Omagh has been one of the main events of the year for the AVSPNI, and in recognition of this the outgoing president, Jim Drayne, nominated the Omagh Fund as his charity.
A cheque for £1,000 was presented to the fund on behalf of vets practising in Northern Ireland and was very graciously accepted by the fund administrator
AVSPNI was founded 40 years ago to represent veterinary surgeons in practice in Northern Ireland. It holds four main scientific meetings each year, including a conference each autumn.