'Does chocolate poison goats?' The answer may be harder to find in the future

There are the five of us in an old Tarago and we've just pulled up at a goat paradise in southern NSW. It's the first time the kids have ever been to a farm of any kind and excitement levels are out of control.

Goats scream. They are a lot noisier than you might imagine, as noisy as small children.

Anyhow, we were unpacking the car, left the doors and boot open. Ten minutes later, we return to get more stuff. The car is filled with goats. One has broken into a little bag of chocolate biscuits. I panic. Not because the biscuits are missing but because I assumed chocolate would poison goats.

You see how little I understand about farms and farm animals. "I'll pay for the vet," I say apologetically.

That was 30 years ago and even then the farmer laughed. Getting vets to come out to farms is nearly impossible, then and now.

The latest annual report from Fiona Nash, the Regional Education Commissioner, recommends immediate government support for the regional and remote veterinary workforce.

If that sounds remote to your own interests, remember that these are the folks who ensure the health of the herds, flocks, passels and broods of the four-legged creatures we love to eat.

Peter Wilkinson, general manager for the Dairy Beef Alliance headquartered at Benalla, makes it clear that it is difficult to get vets out for emergency situations.

"The options are getting fewer and fewer all the time," he says. "Trying to get after hours vets to pull a calf is nearly impossible."

He has no trouble with getting attention for his dogs. "It's the larger animals where we get into trouble."

A vet's life is a tough one. Just ask Ellie Miller, who is a brand-new graduate who works in a practice of five vets. She works out of Bowning in the Yass area and that's where she grew up. Very keen to work with big animals.

"We only do sheep, cattle and the odd horse. There's a lot of work around but people don't want to pay as much for the service."

That's a direct response to the cost-of-living crisis.

Turns out animal owners fall into two categories - and one of those would spend any amount to save an animal, spend any amount to "save their loved ones", as Miller puts it. She means dogs and cats, our cosy companions.

Speaking of money, Miller owes the federal government $70,000 in HECS (now called HELP) and it's not getting any smaller, what with inflation indexed to those debts now. Does she think that it would make a difference to the vet workforce if vet students had lower fees?

"Bloody oath I do."

The Australian Veterinary Association backs Miller's idea and has a few of its own in its pre-budget submission. It doesn't just want fee relief, it also wants changes to funding models of training and it wants subsidies or incentives to attract vets to areas of need. A spokeswoman for the AVA tells me that 40 per cent of vet vacancies take over 12 months to fill.

And maybe we don't panic about the vet shortage in the bush because hey, animal lives are dispensible when we don't name them. It's different when it's Rex or Rusty. It's key we recognise that vets are health workers, just the same as doctors and nurses.

We need more of them - not just for our dogs and cats, but to ensure the safety of the food we eat. Rex and Rusty matter but so, too, the health and the wellbeing of the unnamed, the animals who feed us - and even the goats who nick our Tim-Tams.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Have you every struggled to get a vet? And once the vet arrives, how do you manage the cost? Are you a vet? What would you like to see changed in your profession? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au

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THEY SAID IT: "Everybody was asleep. Everybody except me, James Herriot, creeping sore and exhausted towards another spell of hard labour. Why the hell had I ever decided to become a country vet? I must have been crazy to pick a job where you worked seven days a week and through the night as well. Sometimes I felt as though the practice was a malignant, living entity; testing me, trying me out; putting the pressure on more and more to see just when at what point I would drop down dead." James Herriot

YOU SAID IT: Steve told us about the miserable leftovers he eats for lunch. Every single day. And then he took us to France. The French apparently do lunch properly.

Sue would like Steve to appreciate his good fortune. "You obviously have not been a teacher. Lunch break? That time when you run around making sure your lab is set up properly, that you have the printed copies you need, that you speak to half a dozen students about their urgent questions on their assignment due last week, and just as you think you might have a moment to have a bite to eat, or a mouthful of that now cold coffee, you have a phone call from a parent, or the boss, or someone else wanting, needing or demanding that you drop everything and do something for them right now."

Allan loves his lunches now he's retired: "My great pleasure is a long mid-morning walk with my wife followed by coffee and brunch at our favourite local cafe. The best lunch by far though is a long one with lots of wine at our excellent local pub with half a dozen mates who used to have important jobs in Canberra - we like to think we still have a great deal to contribute to stimulating discussions on major current events."

And here's some culinary advice from Joycey: "I cook meals from scratch each evening and make a two plates for my partner. He has the second plate for lunch the next day and loves it. He works a 12-hour day and it keeps him healthy and energised."

Leftovers from Cass: "It was only after finishing today's delicious lunch that I felt the urge to respond. My partner makes excellent vegetarian fritters, pretty much designed to be eaten across the following few days. Also, yesterday, she baked cauliflower in cheese sauce, of which we happily devoured much. But there was leftover, which I combined with aforementioned fritters for today's middle of the day meal. Nobody alive can tell me this was anything but superb. Viva la leftovers!"