WHEN Jess Shilling couldn't find her dream job of working solely with production animals in the Great Southern, she decided to take a leap of faith, opening up her own veterinary practice at Manypeaks.
"When I graduated I didn't want to work in a mixed practice as I didn't have any interest in small animals," Ms Shilling said.
"So seeing as I couldn't find a job doing what I wanted to do, I thought I might as well start up my own business."
Having grown up in Perth, Ms Shilling always knew she wanted to live in the country and it was this desire which first motivated her to study to become a vet.
After completing a Bachelor of Veterinary Science/Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery, and a Bachelor of Science in Animal Science at Murdoch University, Ms Shilling worked for Manypeaks cattle producers Lester Pastoral before gaining a job with the Department of Agriculture based at Harvey Beef.
Through this role, Ms Shilling learnt about the processing of animals and unwittingly gained knowledge that has since proved useful in her own veterinary practice.
"I learnt a huge amount about what happens to my current clients cattle at the other end and the different markets they end up in," Ms Shilling said.
In 2017 she made the move back to Manypeaks, to be with her now husband, Cody, and went about setting up her own veterinary practice, Bovitech.
Treating about 75 per cent cattle and 25pc sheep, she said more recently there had been growth in demand for her services for sheep due to their increasing value.
"This time of year the bulk of my clients are calving and at the end of the year I do pregnancy testing which goes for a six month period," Ms Shilling said.
"Everything in between is just your general consulting work.
"If the animals have a specific health problem then I'll go in and take samples, ask questions and try and work out what's wrong or sometimes it will be preventative work, where I sit down with my clients, look at their annual plan and we try to avoid any disasters before they happen."
With the majority of her clients breeding their sheep and cattle herds, Ms Shilling said her true passion involved the reproductive efficiencies of livestock.
With no feedlots or indoor systems in the area she services, Ms Schilling ties this work into her client's animal pasture nutrition.
Only recently putting on staff member Milly Watts to assist her with her operations, Ms Shilling said her focus going forward wouldn't be increasing her client base but rather offering more to her existing clients.
"I had a million different projects I really wanted to get going but just didn't have the time to do it on top of the day to day running of the business," Ms Shilling said.
"By putting Milly on, it has freed me up to work on those other projects with my clients."
Ms Shilling said livestock veterinary health services had evolved over the past few decades from simply treating an individual animal's illness to looking at a whole herds health and the whole farming system.
"You return a lot more value to your clients by seeing issues at a herd based level and fixing them before they become a problem rather than just going out and treating one sick animal," Ms Shilling said.
Having successfully married animal vet science and meat production in her career, Ms Shilling keeps busy with side projects, having been a committee member and volunteer vet of the Gate2Plate Challenge, a competition for Western Australian beef producers, for the past two years.
"Gate2Plate needs a vet to keep the challenge going and quite a few of my clients are on the committee so that was how I first became involved," Ms Shilling said.
"I was more than happy to as it's a really great program and it's one of those things that you need to support so that it keeps running."
Also playing a role in the creation of grower group Southern Beef, Ms Shilling said the group was only in its infancy stages and could be described as a spin off from the Gate2Plate Challenge.
"A couple of committee members came up with a few ideas that didn't quite fit with the direction that Gate2Plate is going so we came up with the idea of Southern Beef," Ms Shilling said.
"At the moment we are working with key stakeholders and talking to producers about what it is they want that isn't currently being offered by other bodies that already exist.
"We aren't trying to reinvent the wheel but rather fill a gap."
Happy with her current role and location, Ms Shilling said she felt she had found her place in her local community.
"Everyone down here is so enthusiastic and open to new ideas and that's really kept me going," Ms Shilling said.
"And I don't count down the hours at work because I truly love what I do.
"I can't even whinge about my boss because that's me."
