By Melissa Blewitt

Sophie Hudson has joined the Central West Local Land Services team as the District Vet in Condobolin.
Originally from Queensland, she brings a varied background in scientific research and veterinary medicine.
Sophie is passionate about community, with the goal of working with landholders to achieve optimum outcomes for clients and stock.
“All of the members of the community I have met so far have been so kind and welcoming, I can’t wait to meet more people and return their dedication to the land.”
Sophie’s special interests are biosecurity and epidemiology, land management and regeneration, and livestock genetics, welfare and productivity.
Sophie is a recent graduate of veterinary science at the University of Queensland, with her clinical year focusing of livestock medicine and production management. Having long intended to pursue herd health, she opted to enter the profession directly into Local Land Services. Sophie brings a decade of clinical and research experience, working extensively as a clinical veterinary nurse in avian and exotics medicine, small animal emergency medicine and general practice during her veterinary studies.
Prior to this, Sophie worked as a clinical researcher in immunology at the Translational Research Institute after completing Honours in Science at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, in 2016.
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.
Sophie will be working in Condobolin five days a week. She will be servicing Condobolin and the surrounds. Sophie can be contacted by phoning 1300 795 299 during business hours or on her mobile 0455 055 362.