Bitesize Episode: Ines Cruz - Farm Vet

In this bitesize podcast episode, the our student interviewers Jess and Lily are going to introduce you to Ines Cruz, a Farm Vet If you'd like to find out more about Ines' work keep an eye out for the extended interview which will be released in a couple of weeks.

Some resources that Ines recommends are:
All Creatures Great and Small: The Classic Memoires of a Yorkshire Country Vet by James Herriot (ISBN: 9781447225997)
All Creatures Great and Small tv show - Watch on My5
Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board (AHDB) website
Sustainable Controls of Parasites (SCOPS) website
Control of Worms Sustainably (COWS) website
PubMed website

If you know a group of students who would like to interview female or non-binary role models, please get in touch by emailing podcast@untappedinnovation.com

Likewise, if you know anyone who would be a great role model, let us know by emailing podcast@untappedinnovation.com

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Check out our website

If you know a group of students who would like to interview one of our role models, please get in touch by emailing podcast@untappedinnovation.com

Likewise, if you know anyone who would be a great role model, let us know by emailing podcast@untappedinnovation.com

Follow us on Instagram @STEMUntapped
Connect with us on LinkedIn @STEMUntappedCIC
Check out our website

Transcript

Intro 00:00

Hi, I'm Izzy host of the STEM Untapped podcast. This week, we're interviewing Ines Cruz, a veterinary surgeon who specialises in farm animals.

Lily 00:13

I'm Lily, we’re currently studying our GCSEs. We decided to choose you as our role model because we both have an interest in like maybe more like the animal than human side of biology. And this was like the closest one to our interest.

Jessica 00:30

So I also enjoyed biology. So I don't actually live on a farm, but I spend time with people that do work on farms and stuff. So I enjoy the animal side of science. And I just think that the possibility of being a vet would be really interesting. So we wanted to find out more.

Ines Cruz  00:46

So my name is Ines Cruz. I'm a Farm Veterinary Surgeon at Tyndall Vets in South Gloucestershire and I've been here now almost three years. Pretty much my day to day basis is to treat anything from a sheep to a cow to an alpaca sometimes to, you know, your backyard, pet chicken or your pet pig. So we have a good mixture of anything farm and even pets as well now related to our day to day work, really, it's quite broad.

Jessica  01:19

When did your love for animals first begin?

Ines Cruz  01:21

I get asked that question a lot of times. So we have a lot of students coming, which are in uni, and sometimes not in uni, sometimes for a work placement, then they come over and we take them out on farm and everything. And they all ask me that. And in my case, I can say that it was always there. I think ever since I remember being a person, I always said I wanted to be an animal doctor. So because I was so young, I couldn't pronounce the word, veterinary, or a veterinarian or whatever for that matter. And I always always wanted to be a vet. So I was born and raised in the town in the city. And even to my mother it’s still a mystery to this day. How did my obsession for cows and sheep come about when she would understand cats and dogs maybe because we, you know, a lot of my friends had cats and dogs. I never had a pet growing up. So there was another, there's another mystery for my mum, for example. But it was it was always been there. So I always knew I wanted to do something with animals. And I always wanted to, I knew something to do with treatment and being around them. And then yeah, I pretty much kind of focused my life to go over towards that goal, really.

Izzy  02:37

Do you feel that way girls? Do you feel like you know what you want to do?

Lily 02:41

We have an idea, but not like 100% sure.

Jessica 02:45

That Yeah. I want to be involved in probably animals or sport, but it's what sort of it when you specify what sort of route we go down.

Ines Cruz  02:54

Obviously, if you want to work with animals, you know, there's not just a veterinary. There's so it's so broad that this this time, I think, even if I wasn't a veterinary, I'd probably want to be a farmer myself. Since I was like that, so or, you know, just work at a park, anything like that, you know, you got some from conservation to, you know, helping out on farm to being effective being a vet nurse as well. It's so broad and even within the veterinary profession, you know, not all of us are clinicians. So we also do food inspection. We work also at with the government, so not all of are full time clinicians, obviously the vast majority of us are, but even within the profession, there's loads of things you can do with with animals. I was lucky I managed to go into uni to become a vet. But I think if I hadn't made it, I would certainly I think be working with animals, but just some other way maybe just helping out on the farm or some you know, conservation work anything like that. 

Jessica  04:02

Did you meet your husband through veterinary? And does he, would you say that he earns more than you due to the gender pay gap? Or would you say it's pretty good.

Ines Cruz  04:10

So I met my husband at uni, he's also a vet, he's a small animal vet. I know, he does make more money than me. But that's not to do so much with the fact that he's a man, and I'm a woman, it's mainly to do because there's more the pay and the hours and everything with small animal is more and is different than in farm animals. So I can even see, you know, when I compare a work life balance, I have much better work life balance than he has. And normally in veterinary, you see that a lot of the pay is more due to experience more than anything else. So for example, I know all of these colleagues at his level, they all earn the same, because they all pretty much do the same, even though it all just depends again, and in my workplace, for example, it just depends on how many years of experience you have. And that's pretty much it in farm vetting, you do have to acknowledge, we do need a bit more physical strength. Sometimes, you know, especially when you're dealing with cows, and you're catching cows, and you're doing certain procedures and surgeries, that you know, you do require a bit more muscle. But to be honest, in our practice, we all do the same. Even if something is a bit more physically challenged, I might take a bit longer than my male colleague, but we all get it done mainly in the end. So we don't really see in our profession that gender pay gap unbalance there.

Izzy  05:28

That's great to hear. Because that can be unusual in STEM fields.

Ines Cruz  05:31

It's more due to experience than anything else in how many years of train, of practising obviously, you have really.

Izzy  05:39

Lily and Jess, were you expecting to hear that?

Jessica  05:41

Yeah, I was thinking that the gender pay gap, especially if it takes longer to do certain call outs because of being a woman or whatever. I think that that's I think that's great. They'll pay the same.

Ines Cruz  05:54

It takes longer, but it might just take us you know, I when I say long report 10/15 minutes, and you know, absolutely fine. And farmers are okay with that. Really, there's no, you know, we've never at least up till now to my experience and even speaking to colleagues and all with the same profession. We fortunately enough, we don't we don't feel that.

Lily  06:19

Is your job specific hours, like, do you have to do night call outs or more hours during the lambing season? And does this affect your social life?

Ines Cruz  06:29

Yes, we do our own out of hours. I normally have a set day in the week that I'm on call on weekdays. And normally we have a rotation of weekends that, so we do a weekend on call, like we say on in every four. And that's all obviously included in the salary package, for example, so always comprehends that. A normal day, for example, I work four and a half days a week. So we normally have a half day today is normally my half day. I managed to get away so I can speak to you guys. So yeah, so a normal day that I'm not on call, I get to work half eight, and normally I can leave at half five, we normally stay behind help each other. We have a good team here. And you're very lucky with that. So even if we have to stay behind a bit longer to help someone else, it's absolutely fine. We don't mind it. But that's normally how it works. So I don't really take work home so to speak. I'm lucky in that thing. We don't have to do a lot of reports. Sometimes we do but the vast majority of times they're quite set, and we can do it during our work hours. So we don't have to take anything home. On Tuesdays I'm on call and that means so I start the day at half five and then just stay on call. That doesn't mean I'm out all the time, just means I get to go home at half six, half, five, six o'clock. And then if the phone rings I go out if it doesn't all the better. I can stay in, especially now in the winter. But like you mentioned in lambing season, that phone will most likely ring on a Tuesday night.

Jessica  08:01

When you were training at university to become a vet, did that cover all of the animals? And then did you specialise in farm animals? Or was it you went into farm veterinary?

Ines Cruz  08:13

The way that the way that, you know the veterinary course was structured years ago. So we basically, our basic knowledge, and I say basic, but it's not that basic, is at least it's eight domesticated species. So we start with the domesticated species, because those are the ones that we normally provide care for. So and maybe we start learning. So when you first yearanatomy, or your domestic domesticated species are poultry, pigs, sheep, or sheep and goat, a horse, cow, cat and dog, so at least some I think I'm missing one, I think there’s about 8, missing one. But anyway, so these are the domesticated species that we learned. So we learn about all the anatomy of all these species, or the difference in the anatomy or the difference. You know, some you can use some types of treatment and drugs on one, you can't do it on the other. But if you want to then specialise, say, in reptiles, for example, because you love snakes, and you want to work with that, reptiles and lizards and everything like that, there might be some site subjects, you can pick those optional subjects you can have as an extra for the curriculum throughout the year. But you only cover the very basis, I'll take the example of alpacas, I think, alpacas, we never mentioned it in uni, either here or back home in Portugal. Here, now we start seeing a bit more because the number and the population alpacas and people with alpacas is rising. So basically, I think they're starting to find their way more into, into the programme, or so to speak. But yeah, I when I got out of uni, I didn't know anything about alpacas. So it was actually through further learning and CPDs and everything that I started learning more about them. And I think that's what's gonna happen, we call exotic species, so we can divide them as domesticated species, and exotic and wild species. And we basically focus on the domesticated ones, because it's the most common ones. And then if you want to learn more about anything more exotic, so we speak, it's normally after uni with some post graduations, and, you know, other courses that you can do to get that knowledge.

Lily 10:29

So what's your favourite thing about your job?

Ines Cruz 10:31

So my favourite thing, I don't know, I think is seeing something that's ill, and then ringing the next day and seeing they’re feeling better already. And by the end of the week, and seeing Oh, she's doing better. It's like, it's it's fixing them really making them feel better. Because you know, if you do that, have a happy cow and have a happy farmer, then everybody’s happy. So that's what I like most about that I get more satisfaction from that than anything else. And to help the animals really it's kind of think they don't they don't talk. So I think there's a thing people and people think like, oh, but you’re a vet, you know, like, yes, to a certain degree. We've got the basics there. But sometimes we need a bit more. Sometimes not all the symptoms are exactly what the textbook says. And that is, can be the most challenging one I think I'm already answering your second question there. I think it's the challenge is when you see something that you look at it yourself, and you know that it's not 100%, right. But you can't just pinpoint what it is. And that is a challenge really. And again, like I say they don't talk so they can't say Oh, it's my tummy or it's this or it's that. And then what happens is you started treatment, there might be like a broad spectrum treatment. And then two days later, a colleague goes out. And actually now it's textbook something. How did you miss that? Like I didn't, maybe I just saw at the very beginning and it wasn't just presenting like the book says like, I think at the beginning is quite frustrating that bit. It's when you think everything's gonna be, you know, perfect and textbook like, and then it's not. But the, my main thing is yes, going out speaking to the farmer working with them and fixing something that's ill or in pain and making you better. Doesn't matter what animal.

Izzy  12:23

And Ines can you recommend any resources like TV shows or social media accounts, or books or magazines that students who are interested in getting into what you do could have a look at to find out more information?

Ines Cruz  12:35

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, if you, it might be some type of technical words there. But the easily enough to, to understand, you know, Google these days, but AHDB is a platform that's directly linked to agriculture. And any type any kind of agricultural really, you can find loads of stuff there about beef, dairy, sheep, anything from like disease, to prevention, to feed, nutrition. That is, they are a good platform for that, and it's something that I normally recommend to some of the farmers to have a bit of a read through, in any particular, any particular thing they might want to learn a bit more about. They do a lot of research, and we work alongside with them as well, regarding data and anything really. It's a really good site, there are things more technical things for like worms, which are SCOPS and COWS. So that’s the short version of this. So C-O-W-S COWS, that's how to use a wormers responsibly because it's another thing, not just antibiotic usage, but wormer usage can create a lot of resistance, we can create worms that are resistant to treatment. And then you know next thing we'll have animals dying of worms and then you got all things all things medicine related. You can go you know, journals like PubMed has loads of journals about veterinary and reviews about diseases and everything. Like I say some things might be a bit more technical, but things some things are just kind of reviews of some things throughout the years.

Outro  14:12

Thank you for joining another STEM Untapped podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, then subscribe for free on your podcast app. You can follow us on Instagram at @STEMuntapped. If you know of a school or group of students who would like to interview female or non-binary role models do get in touch. Likewise, if you know of anyone who would be a great role model then let us know. Our details are all documented in the show notes.