The evident enjoyment of the sunshine was no more obvious than at the Glendale Show on Monday, where folk turned out in their droves to support the agricultural community.
The round of country shows that take place over the next couple of months are a celebration of farming and Glendale Show is no different. Unfortunately the recent foot and mouth outbreak meant that movement restrictions prevented any cattle or sheep being present on the day. However, the lack of livestock didn't dull the enthusiasm for the day.
Over the years we have provided the official veterinary cover for the show and you might think that without livestock this may have been unnecessary this year. The large turnout in all of the horse classes meant that our services were required with Leslie doing the honours, her attention particularly keen when her daughter was competing! Leslie is a very experienced and well respected racecourse vet and used to dealing with the various accidents that can befall competing horses. Fortunately all was quiet with no serious incidents to report.
Alnorthumbria vets were also present in a non-official veterinary capacity. Following the success of three years ago, we had a trade stand at the show which gave us the ideal opportunity to extend a little hospitality to our clients.
Much credit should go to Pam, Sarah and Leslie who worked hard to prepare some excellent and interesting displays, not to mention demonstrations of some of the equipment we use – the electric tooth rasp and endoscope proving particularly popular. In fact, the displays didn't just go down well with the general public but also caught the eyes of the judges, picking up second prize in the trade stand competition.
We now service farms across most of the county and we were particularly pleased to welcome a good number of these clients, keen to pick up their views on how we can continue to develop the practice to cater for their needs in the future.
Not surprisingly a common topic of conversation was the foot and mouth outbreak with everyone pleasantly surprised, not to mention greatly relieved, that the temporary ban of exports into Europe has been lifted so quickly.
Bio-security and the prevention of disease on farm is a very important part of the modern working relationship between farm and vet, with written health plans helping to define how this is achieved. There is no doubt that this has contributed significantly to the swift irradiation of foot and mouth and hopefully the early return to business as usual in the farming community.
Of course we don't just look after farm animals and horses and I was particularly amazed by the large numbers of our small animal clients from all over the county that had just come for a jolly good day out, many taking time to drop in and have a chat, all in all, making the whole day a huge success.