VN May 2021

Vetnuus | Mei 2021 36 Story hear him often from the room next door after someone had poured out their problem to him answering them in his gruff abbreviated way. No psychologist mish-mash, a simple “you must”… followed with some extremely practical advice. It was so nice to work with someone to whom money was not the moving spirit behind his life. He was a genius with money, yet money seemed low down on his scale of needs. It was so rewarding to be in a practice where we could take the owner’s financial situation into consideration when we charged the fee. For years we had an arrangement with the “Animal Welfare Society” where their inspector, Jonny Petersen would come in, in the mornings and help Joep with his operations and in turn we would do their work pro bono. Looking back today, I recognise that moment in the old Merc was a moment which God had orchestrated from long before, although Joep may not agree with me on this. The door which opened for me that day was just so perfect, like every other aspect of His plan for my life. There was one catch, however. The assistant had a contract which only expired in about 15 months. So I was going to have to kick my heels and make the best of that time at the Lab. However, there being a new goal at the end, everything seemed brighter when I got back to the base that evening and I could tackle every day with a new enthusiasm. 1975 brokewith a new sense of purpose inmy life.The State vet who had left the previous year had not been replaced so I was delegated a few tasks which went with that position in Stellenbosch. I had to take over the lectures in veterinary science which the students, doing their agricultural diploma at Elsenburg, had to follow. I was handed a bunch of files with the notes previous lecturers had used in preparing their lectures. After studying the notes, I was horrified to see how totally impractical they were. The first year course was focussed on physiology and anatomy and the second year animal diseases. The course was designed to attempt to make the student into a mini-veterinary surgeon. I decided to remodel the course and help prepare the students for what a future farmer should know as he left with his diploma. Focusing on prevention and control of animal diseases. The use of vaccines, control of internal and external parasites, the value of correct nutrition and other practical ways of keeping your herd as healthy and productive as possible. I tried to prepare them to know and understand the limitations to their knowledge and when to call in a qualified veterinarian to make a proper diagnosis and advise on control measures. I had a good rapport with the students and we shared several lighter moments. At one stage I had been teaching some facts on anthrax and its prevention and control, warning them of the dangers of cutting open a carcass which showed certain signs, because of the danger of sporulation and long-term pollution of the area, but rather to call in a vet to eliminate the possibility of anthrax first. A few days later when I started my lecture, wanting to test whether they had been listening the previous time, I asked the class “You come into the field one morning and one of your best cows is lying dead, all you can see is blood that’s come from its nose and mouth as well as its anus, what is the first thing that you should do?” There was a lot of giggling going on in the back of the class and I asked the ring-leader for the answer. Standing up slowly with an impudent grin on his face he said “I would call a vet.” He clearly had no clue and had fallen back on the safest answer he could think of, in the light of my continued admonishments, not to try and be a vet. So the whole class burst out laughing as they realised the irony of his correct answer without having any idea of the reason why.