ALEX McPHERSON of Drove Veterinary Hospital continues his journal about life as a new farm vet.

Well, I am sorry that up to now I have been misleading you... Each month I have said how busy I am, but this month has REALLY been busy!

One member of staff at the hospital asked me the other day whether I had had a nice holiday! I replied, slightly frostily, that the reason they hadn't been seeing me around the practice is that far from me being laid up on a beach in the sun, I have actually been motoring from one call to the next with only the briefest visit to the hospital for more supplies.

That leads me to some sad news - my beloved old red Corsa has finally given up the ghost after many years of faithful service.

Alas, the strains of being loaded high with farm drugs over the bumpy farm tracks proved to be too much, and I have now got something eminently more sensible, a Honda CRV - to support local business and to fit in - which has now taken the fun out of my normal routine of whether my car will start or not.

Thursday, March 13 was by far my busiest day. I had agreed to cover one of the partners on call for a couple of hours in the morning while he attended an important meeting.

I soon I received a call that would take me to a very difficult situation - a cow giving birth, with the calf coming backwards, and both back legs coming forward, and trapped within the cow.

This is a very tricky situation and - as was the case this time - often leads to a difficult Caesarean operation.

Due to the position the calf lies in, there is a lot of physical exertion required to get it in a position to come out the side door' as farmers call it, or to get the calf out through the left flank.

In this case, after quite a bit of time and a lot of sweat, the cow was stitched up and ready to start the healing process, although the calf was dead, and had been for a few hours.

Although aching, tired out and wanting nothing more than a hot drink and a sit down, there were many more calls to attend to that day - and as 5pm arrived and I was on duty, I was desperately hoping for a quiet evening.

However, the dreaded ring tone which signals my on-call rang out, and I found myself - although already at a low ebb - sinking further into despair as I got called out to my second calving of the day.

Once there, the farmer told me to follow him, and detailed that the cow in question was in a field, in the pitch dark, and I could just feel the rain start to come down.

The farmer looked at my face in order to gauge the response that this news would normally get.

At this point I was so tired and dead beat that I just nodded as if I had expected nothing less. But it was all a ruse, and he took me into a nice, warm sheltered barn and switched on the overhead lighting. It was a minute or two before it dawned on me that he was having me on!

The calving proved to be quite straightforward, the calf's head coming at an awkward angle and, with a bit of help from me and a lot more from the cow, a nice, healthy live calf was soon taking its first shaky steps towards its mother's milk.

With the day I had had, this was the sight I needed to re-energise me - and after a cup of congratulatory tea, I headed off to a sheep-worming advice evening hosted by Drove, which aimed to give tips on different kinds of wormers, and strategies to combat the negative health effects a worm burden can produce.

I finally staggered into bed way after midnight, thoroughly exhausted!

This was just the start of a busy weekend on call for me, and the first of three Caesareans I would perform in under a week.

The last was performed on a pygmy goat - and a particularly small one at that!

This was a first for me, and although I was slightly apprehensive, I knew it was the right decision to take as I could hear the unborn kid from the uterus!

This was a kid that wanted to come out in a hurry.

No sooner had I removed the kid from the uterus than it was up for its mother's milk and, more importantly, getting in the way of me trying to suture up its mother.

With the kid restrained but crying lustily, I completed the operation without further incident. I am pleased to say that while attending our free bluetongue virus advice evening, a few days later, the owners came up to me to assure me that mother and kid were doing well.

This pleased me no end, and news like this makes all the trials and tribulations more than worth it.

2:09pm Thursday 17th April 2008

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