The Sydney girl, in the fifth year of her veterinary science studies, is in the middle of a four-week placement at the Moree Veterinary Hospital and said she has been loving every minute of it.

From the start the young vet-to-be has felt right at home in Moree, with everyone being so friendly and the nurses at the hospital “willing to teach her everything”. 

Ms Fischer said from day one she was allowed to start a consult, something she found incredibly valuable, as it was exactly what you couldn’t practise at university.

The clients all seemed to embrace the student, showing patience with her. “Even though I might have been taking a bit longer,” she said.

As opposed to city people, the student said the locals here took time to say hello, to tell about their lives, and were very chatty in general. 

In the short period Ms Fischer has been in Moree, she got to meet a substantial part of the community. 

“Driving around with David [Hunter] is the best,” she said. “Everyone waves, he seems to know everybody... And he remembers all clients and their pets.”

During the fifth and last year before graduating as a vet, students have to complete a year of placements, and Ms Fischer has already gained practical experience with ‘smallies’ (small pets) in Wollongong, but her placement in Moree is the first ‘mixed’ one.

And as it turns out she especially likes the variety and rural aspect of the job.

“From rabbits to vaccinations to horses and dentistry... No other practise includes driving for half an hour to a farm and being outside,” she said.

The placement has proved to be hands-on, and Ms Fischer said one of the highlights so far was helping with a fetotomy, the dissection of a dead fetus, in this case a calf.

“[After sedating the cow] David let me put my hand in first, asked me what I felt and which way I thought we needed to put the wire on to pull the calf out. It was so satisfying to see the cow walk off afterwards. The farmer was so pleased,” she said. 

As a result of her experiences in Moree, the trainee now knows she wants to do mixed practice, and will start looking for jobs “somewhere between Tamworth and Moree”.

Mr Hunter, co-owner of the Moree vet centre hopes Ms Fischer will find her dream job, as she “bubbles with enthusiasm”, but he also knows it won’t be an easy task in today’s climate.

Before 2010 there was a huge demand for vets in remote areas, but a ‘selective intake’ program put in place to focus on producing vet students from the bush has been successful.

“Before 2010 we once advertised for three years without success, but for the last vacancy we had, there were 30 or 40 applicant,” Mr Hunter said.

He hoped Ms Fischer would succeed, and thought it would be a shame if she would not get the opportunity. 

“She seemed to enjoy the nice smelly jobs; me, not so much,” he laughed.