Patrick Hlatshwayo has joined the Central West Local Land Services team as the District Vet in Condobolin.
He is originally from Swaziland, his career has seen him treat everything from exotic lions to farm livestock, and everything else in between.
Patrick took up the position on 15 July and is settling in well. He hopes to have his family join in him in Condobolin soon.
He graduated from Murdoch University in Western Australia in 1990, and returned to Swaziland in 1991, where he remained until 2002.
Patrick was a Veterinary Investigation Officer during his time in Swaziland. He oversaw a laboratory, where District Vets would bring samples in to be tested. Once that process was completed, he liaised with farmers in relation to the results and the next steps that needed to be taken.
While in Swaziland, Patrick also experienced a Foot and Mouth (FMD) outbreak. The FMD outbreak was detected after a group of cattle imported from South Africa were discovered to have lesions during the process of slaughter at an abattoir.
“While I was in Swaziland, management of diseases was a docus,” Patrick explained.
“I treated everything chickens, goats, sheep and wildlife. I have even had experience with working with lions. When lions were reintroduced to Swaziland in 1994 into the Hlane Reserve, I was responsible for making sure all of the appropriate paper work was in order and conducting health checks.
“It was here I also gained experience in poultry medicine, poultry production and poultry diseases.”
In 2003, Patrick was recruited by the New Zealand Government, and he worked in the country until 2006.
Patrick came to Australia in 2006 and worked as an On-Plant Veterinary Officer for the Commonwealth Government. He worked in Broken Hill, South Australia and Western Australia. His role included performing ante-mortem inspection of animals, verifying post-mortem inspection procedures, overseeing animal welfare and checking that all company activities comply with the relevant legislation. On-plant vets enable certification of Australian meat and meat products for overseas markets. Patrick remained in this job until 2015.
In 2015, Patrick was asked by the Swaziland Government to return and work on writing regulations for the Veterinary Public Act.
“So, I returned to Swaziland to write the regulations for the Act, and then helped to implement it for them.” he said. He remained in Swaziland until 2019.
When Patrick finished working in Swaziland in 2019, he decided to do private veterinary work. He continued on this path, up until he saw the District Vet’s position with the Central West Local Land Services advertised.
“When I saw it [the job] advertised I decided to apply,” Patrick said.
Patrick says living in a country town offers a work-life balance and the opportunity to help grow the agricultural economy through assisting farmers with their livestock.
“I will do my best to help out the farmers. I realy like Condobolin, it is a nice place. It is very laid back with a relaxed atmosphere.
“I am looking forward to getting to know the community and making my home here.”
It is important for the community to remember that the role of a District Vet and a Private Veterinarian are different.
District vets are a valuable source of local, independent advice on biosecurity, traceability and animal health issues, with particular attention to emergency disease surveillance and preparedness.
District vets visit production animals (such as sheep, cattle, pigs, goats and poultry) on farm to check for herd health and disease issues. They don’t look at individual animals and provide only a diagnostic service – they do not carry medications or treat animals.
Landholders pay annual rates to Local Land Services, which funds some of their animal biosecurity and welfare activities. This means there is no charge for coming out to your property and assessing your livestock; there won’t be fees for any disease investigations or lab testing to exclude emergency, notifiable or exotic diseases. There may however be fees for any diagnostic lab tests associated with non-notifiable diseases.
District vets work closely with NSW DPIRD (formally DPI) and are always on the lookout for emergency, notifiable and exotic diseases. Thankfully, our district vets rarely find them, but every time they are on farm testing for these diseases, they are proving our “absence of disease” to our export markets to maintain market access.
The role of a district vet is strictly legislated in terms of what we can and cannot do; they work closely with private vets to enable treatment and ongoing management of diagnosed disease conditions when required.
Patrick will be working in Condobolin five days a week. He will be servicing Condobolin and surrounds. Patrick can be contacted by phoning the Condobolin Central West Local Land Services office on 02 6891 2300 or via his mobile on 0455 055 362.