Swans Veterinary Services

6 7 BUSINESS VIEW OCEANIA VOLUME 4, ISSUE 4 BUSINESS VIEW OCEANIA VOLUME 4, ISSUE 4 their mental and physical health.” Attracting new employees has not been difficult for Swans Veterinary, who aim to be a workplace of choice. As part of a small community, their employees know they are valuable. Dr. Swan explains, “Most people know you, that you work at Swans Vets. That role is seen as being important to a lot of people in the community. We do value being a high-performance team, and being a truly mixed practice.” Taking on students from Murdoch University is one way in which Swans Vets attracts new talent. “We take a lot of students on their prep components, and we are pretty high profile in North Western Australia, and even in other parts of Australia,” Swan says. “We do get students from all over Australia come to do practice with us.” Outside of the Swans Veterinary team, the practice is also reliant on strong relationships with suppliers and service providers. Dr. Swan relays that Vetoquinol and Provet are main supplier of drugs and other products required to treat the animals, while IDEXX is an important supplier on the diagnostic side. For the day-to- day operations of the business, the Australian Veterinarian Association (AVA) offers what Dr. Swan calls an “amazing HR service.” Michal Scasney, a vet who shifted to the IT industry, was critical in helping Swans set up their entire IT system. As an importer of bull and ram electroejaculation units, which are then sold to other vets throughout Australia, Swans also maintains a valuable relationship with Lane Manufacturing, a U.S. company. Collaborations with groups like Asheep, a group who works to identify and solve issues in the sheep and cattle production industry, are also important for Swans. Affiliations with SAFE, an initiative to save animals from euthanasia is another way that Swans Veterinary Services is involved in contributing to their community. They also work with Shire Rangers, an environmental protection agency. With a team of experienced and some long- serving veterinarians, Swans Veterinary has seen many industry changes. “Pet ownership has changed for a lot of people, their dogs and cats have become like their children,” reports Swan. “Within reason, there’s not the ceiling that there used to be for what people would consider a reasonable amount to spend on their pets. Thirty years ago, when the working dog got to a certain age, if it got sick, they didn’t really do much more. Definitely, what people are prepared to do for their pets has changed.” On the livestock side, Swan relates that they used to work with a lot more sheep, which changed drastically when the wool market crashed, leaving only a core group of dedicated sheep farmers. High beef prices, have seen many farmers move to cattle, creating an opportunity for the practice. Swan confirms, “Numbers there are increasing and Enoch, our main livestock vet, has been promoting artificial insemination SWANS VETER INARY SERV I CES