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This article was published in 1961
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INSTITUTE OF INSPECTORS OF STOCK OF N.S.W. YEAR BOOK.
Rural Veterinary Centre, Camden
D. R. HUTCHINS, B.V.Sc., Superintendent
In 1943 the Faculty of Veterinary Science established with the the support of funds from the Rural Bank, a unit at the McGarvie Smith Animal Husbandry Farm at Badgery's Creek. The aim of this unit was to provide clinical material from farm animals to enlarge the scope of practical teaching to final year veterinary undergraduates.
The acquisition of the Camden Farms by the Faculty necessitated a review of the location of clinical teaching and it was resolved by a Faculty decision that the teaching of clinical and animal husbandry subjects should be undertaken at or near the same location.
This decision necessitated a transfer of the activities of the clinic to the Camden area and ultimately a suitable area of approximately 30 acres was purchased. This site has a 12 chain road frontage to the eastern side of Werombi Road and is within easy walking distance of the residential accommodation.
The existing buildings at the Rural Veterinary Centre as it is known today were erected with funds provided by the Australian Meat Board, the Australian Dairy Produce Board and the Commonwealth Interdepartmental Committee on Wool Funds as well as substantial gifts from the McGarvie Smith Institute, the Newstead South Pastoral Company Limited and numerous other donors. Three major wings were constructed and the transfer to this site took place on the 18th August, 1958. The McGarvie Smith Wing (floor area 2400 sq. ft.) is occupied by administration, drug store, dispensary and laboratory facilities: the Newstead Wing (floor area 2000 sq. ft. provides office space, a student seminar room and small animal facilities, whilst the third wing (floor area 5800 sq. ft.) is occupied by surgical and radiological facilities with accommodation for both large and small animals.
External service facilities available include yards, races, equipment sheds and incinerator.
Services provided by the Rural Veterinary Centre include ambulatory field service, inpatient hospitalisation (surgery and radiology) and clinical pathological laboratory service. The latter has greatly increased the effectiveness of the unit as a teaching instrumentality enabling the student to gain a better understanding of the integration of field and laboratory work.
In the clinical pathology laboratory there is no formal course as such. Students are assigned to the laboratory in pairs for a total of 20 laboratory hours. During this time they work under the supervision of the Clinical Pathologist and Chief Laboratory Technologist in the handling of all submissions to the laboratory.
The whole aim of this aspect of final year training is to ensure that the student sees the application of his course work to actual problems as they arise on farms. Whereas he will have set up a Brucella agglutination test as laboratory exercise in his Bacteriology course he may now be called upon to set up, read and interpret 100 sera from a complete herd. Similar situations pertain with regard to mastitis milks, faeces for egg countsetc.
The pathologist is also responsible for autopsies and makes every effort to see that students revise their technique for the autopsy of farm animals. This depends on the availability of cadavers and members of the Institute well could bear in mind in this connection, that anything they can do in the way of providing further autopsy experience to students assigned to them on extra-mural work is of great value and a real help to the undergraduate.
At its present stage of development this laboratory handles an average of about 65 submissions per month. Some other average yearly figures are of interest: haematology 300, egg counts 600, histopathological preparations 500, autopsies 100 (50 per cent cattle) plus a considerable number of milk samples, pus specimens, exudates, gynaecological samples, tumours and other surgical specimens,etc. Toxicology is referred to Veterinary Research Station, Glenfield.
The following tables summarise the activities of the Rural Veterinary Centre after two years at its new location. Table I provides the number of new visits, and total number of patients attended each month. Revisits are not included in these figures.
ACCESSIONS - JANUARY - DECEMBER, 1960
| Month | Visits | Total Accessions (All species) |
|---|---|---|
| January | 319 | 675 |
| February | 390 | 482 |
| March | 358 | 1470 |
| April | 311 | 675 |
| May | 305 | 531 |
| June | 370 | 1251 |
| July | 300 | 709 |
| August | 365 | 968 |
| September | 419 | 1226 |
| October | 316 | 1069 |
| November | 319 | 3130 |
| December | 466 | 1050 |
| TOTAL — Jan. - Dec. | 4238 | 13236 |
Table II summarises the hospital admissions showing species, the numbers and relative percentages. 1959 figures are included for comparison.
HOSPITAL ACCESSIONS
| 1960 | 1959 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Species | Total No. | Percentage of Total |
Total No. | Percentage of Total |
| Canine | 145 | 35.1 | 75 | 36.0 |
| Equine | 139 | 33.7 | 67 | 32.2 |
| Bovine | 61 | 14.8 | 47 | 17.7 |
| Feline | 38 | 9.2 | 18 | 9.0 |
| Balance | 30 | 4.6 | 5 | 2.4 |
| TOTALS | 412 | 100 | 198 | 100 |
It is interesting to observe that although total numbers of hospitalised patients increased by 100% during 1960 the relative percentage of animals hospitalised remained remarkably constant.
In 1959 laboratory submissions totalled 491 and in 1960 submissions numbered 791, including autopsy examinations.
The above are not individual laboratory examinations, but submissions from separate animals or problem herds,e.g. one submission may be 100 cattle sera from a herd undergoing brucellosis eradication or say 240 milk samples from a 60 сow herd for mastitis survey.
The Rural Veterinary Centre as with the Sydney University Veterinary Hospital and Clinic are each directed by a Superintendent. The superintendents are responsible to the Board of Clinical Studies of which they are both members, along with the medical and surgical staff of the Department of Veterinary Medicine and the Clinical Pathologist at Rural Veterinary Centre. The chairman of the Board is the Dean of the Faculty.
The medical and surgical staff draw upon the facilities and clinical material of the Rural Veterinary Centre for formal teaching just as they do with its Sydney counterpart. In turn R.V.C. staff give a limited number of formal lectures for the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Department of Veterinary Pathology.
The present staff of the Rural Veterinary Centre is as follows:—
CLINICAL: D. R. Hutchins, B.V.Sc., Superintendent; R. J. H. Hyne, B.V.Sc., Clinical Instructor; Miss B. H. Glanville, B.V.Sc. Temporary Clinical Instructor.
CLINICAL PATHOLOGY: K. G. Johnston, B.V.Sc., Dip. Bact. (Lond.), Senior Clinical Pathologist; E. E. Lepherd, A.I.M.LT, Chief Laboratory Technologist.