2020-2021 President’s Report
Dr Sandra Baxendell
The last year has been very difficult for us all. Kylie Greentree and I were involved with Science week in 2020 but of course this was called off. We did not have the support to contribute to the 2021 Science week so maybe next year will see a Small Ruminant chapter section (volunteers are needed to help this happen). The committee did most of our work via email and one Zoom meeting. We did a submission from the chapter to the review of agvet chemical regulatory framework highlighting the difficulties of treating minor species such as goats and deer.
Exams
Exams for our chapter happen only every second year and we lobbied strongly to have exams in 2021 as we would normally have rather than have them pushed back a year to allow for the postponed 2020 exams. The subject outlines for both sheep and goats were updated. We had 12 sheep membership students enrolled. Unfortunately none of the initial interest in doing goat medicine exams actually paid their fees to sit the exam. Maybe they will do the goat exam in 2 years’ time. Covid19 made things very difficult for the sheep students and we wish them well. My thanks for the time of the examiners and our chief examiner, especially as we had to make sudden changes as 2 examiners had to pull out due to unforeseen circumstances.
Website
The President manages the Small Ruminant chapter webpages on the ANZCVS website. This is up-to-date and has also hidden files for the committee use. Any suggested improvements are welcomed. See https://www.anzcvs.org.au/chapters/small+ruminant+chapter
FAMACHA cards
Sales of these cards are the main source of income for the Small Ruminant Chapter and the President currently handle these sales. Due to Covid-19, face to face courses were severely limited or ceased. The president, via her business, ran a series of FAMACHA courses for meat, dairy and pet goat owners via Zoom in Sept 2020 (5 courses) and April 2021 (3 courses) and offered an exam (written and send in a video of using the card) and this resulted in a few sales. She also held a free FAMACHA course via Zoom for vets in April 2021, which resulted in even more sales. One large practice bought cards for all their livestock vets after one of their vets did the Zoom course and then trained her practice colleagues. We have an agreement with the copyright owners and must keep good records and do an annual report.
