On a crisp December Saturday morning I was doing some calls with two junior helpers aged five and seven. One of the jobs was to re-visit a cow which earlier in the week had through some misadventure punctured its milk vein. In 20 years of practice, I had only seen this occur once before. Unfortunately, on that occasion the outcome was poor.
On a crisp December Saturday morning I was doing some calls with two junior helpers aged five and seven.
One of the jobs was to re-visit a cow which earlier in the week had through some misadventure punctured its milk vein. In 20 years of practice, I had only seen this occur once before. Unfortunately, on that occasion the outcome was poor.
This time, with some determination from the diligent owner who kept pressure on the injured vein till help arrived, we managed to repair the damage and the following Saturday morning the cow bore no ill effect from her mishap.
To boost my troops’ morale, as we continued with our day, we decided to stop for some refreshments in the nearby village.
Local hunt
On our arrival, the small crossroad settlement was a hive of activity as the local hunt was preparing for the off. My two companions were delighted and excited to see the horses being prepared for the day and the gathered huntsmen and women in their colour-coded outfits were in fine fettle.
In the corner of the sun-drenched carpark, some members of the local community group were busily adding the finishing touches to the outdoor crib.
One of the gentlemen in white shirt, collar, long riding britches and braces approached the workers to commend them for their efforts.
Taking a nip of courage from his hipflask, he chortled aloud in an accent that would not have been out of place in a scene from Downton Abbey “your timing is perfect. You have erected a stable should we need it before the day is out”. One of the community volunteers in hi-vis jacket responded with rapier wit: “Your timing is good too. The only thing we needed to complete the nativity scene is a Donkey.”
Chris McGrath works at Comeragh Veterinary Kilmacthomas, Co Waterford. Comeragh Veterinary is part of XLVets. XLVets is a group of progressive practices who are working together to achieve a better future for agriculture and veterinary in Ireland. For further information go to www.xlvets.ie
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: