Dr Roger Blackwell has spent more than four decades in veterinary medicine, but his passion for the work has never wavered. From the Meander Valley Vet Centre in Deloraine, Roger leads a team that cares for everything from household pets to dairy cows and animals from Tasmania Zoo.
“I enjoy the detective diagnostic stuff,” he said. “I was 11 when I decided this is what I wanted to do, and I consider myself fortunate for having done it for 42 years. I still thoroughly enjoy the same job.”
Roger’s Meander Valley Vet practice is a genuine mixed veterinary service, covering an extensive range of animals. “We service everything from mice to—we can’t say elephants yet—but we service Tasmania Zoo as well,” he said. “We also service roughly 50,000 dairy cows. Also horses. We’ve now got the only functional equine hospital in Tasmania.”
While Dr Blackwell performs many of the surgeries himself, the practice also uses interstate veterinary surgeons. It is just one element of the growing practice, which currently employs more than 30 staff, including six or seven vets on any given day.
Roger, who is planning to semi-retire but remain involved as a mentor and problem-solver, sees the mixed nature of the practice as a major draw for both staff and clients. “The reason I bought this practice was the mix of species. I wanted genuine mixed,” he explained. “These days, we are about one-third small animals—cats, dogs, and ferrets, etc.—one-third horses, and maybe a bit more than one-third cattle.”
He believes the diversity of work is an advantage in attracting veterinary staff, despite a global shortage of veterinarians. “Despite the after-hours load that’s involved, there are still lots of vets who want to be, for want of a better term, what I term ‘real vets’—who want to do everything,” he said. “Being a genuine mixed practice is a real positive in attracting staff.”
Beyond the medical work, Roger values the deep relationships he has formed with farming clients. “I’ve been a grief counsellor, marriage counsellor, financial planner—all that sort of stuff, all over a cuppa after a job,” he said. “And it works two ways. I lost my dad out of the blue with a heart attack, and one of my dairy clients, he’ll know who he is, said to me probably three weeks down the track, ‘Hey Rog, you look like you’re struggling. If you ever need someone to talk to, you know where I am.’”
His commitment to the region is long-standing. Born in Wynyard and trained in Western Australia, Roger moved to Deloraine when the opportunity arose to buy a practice. “Being a Tassie boy, I knew the area, my wife had travelled through here, and so we decided we’d tackle this,” he said. His parents backed the purchase, using their family home as security for the loan.
Since then, the Meander Valley Vet has grown significantly, outgrowing its original Emu Bay Road location and later expanding its current premises in 2004. It also opened the Westbury practice. Now, Roger is working with builders to further increase the floor area in Deloraine. “We desperately need to expand our floor area to cope with the workload,” he said.
Looking back on his career, Roger finds satisfaction in both the technical and personal aspects of veterinary medicine. He speaks with pride about his dairy clients embracing advancements in animal care and technology, particularly in life-saving procedures. “Cattle, for example, can get a particular sort of twisted stomach. They will die guaranteed within two to three days,” he said. “But we’ve now got our farmers pretty well trained… If they’re caught early, I’ve had them be back on full milk production within three days.”
Then there are the moments that make it all worthwhile. “The ones that give you a bit of a buzz are probably the dogs where we can honestly say, ‘We saved that animal’s life,’” he said. “It’s amazing the number of those that leap in the front door, romp around the place, leap all over you. I honestly think they work it out, and that gives you a bit of a warm and fuzzy feeling.”
For Roger, Meander Valley is home. An outdoorsman at heart, he recently walked the Overland Track with his youngest daughter. “It’s a fabulous place to live,” he said.
