Since the early years when NPUST operated as the “Kaohsiung Prefecture Pingtung School of Agriculture” up to the present time, the Department of Veterinary Medicine has been looking out for the health and safety of animals of all sizes. For farmers raising large livestock, they have been an indispensable resource and very dependable aide. The services the university provides involve a lot of visitations. And unlike with smaller animals which can easily be transported to the veterinarians for medical treatment, larger animals usually prefer to receive house calls. For NPUST, which cooperates with farms all around Taiwan, this has meant that vets from the school have been spending a lot of time on the road.
In an expression of appreciation for the work done by the Department of Veterinary Medicine and its professional members, several businesses and farms recently got together to purchase a brand new 5-seater CMC SUV to help the school’s vets travel safely and comfortably to and from the farms when making their rounds. Three companies—Siemex Corporation, Fairchief Resources, and Creation Food—and two farms presented the vehicle to the university at a donation ceremony which was held on March 31st, 2021 in front of the Department of Veterinary Medicine.
The president of NPUST, Chang-Hsien Tai, remarked that “the Department of Veterinary Medicine has a long history. They have raised up many outstanding alumni over the years, and they have been exceptional in their contributions towards large and small size economic livestock farms. With the clinical work that Assistant Professor Hsu-Hsun Lee and Associate Professor Shyh-Shyan Liu are doing with large animals— and their educational activities, we look forward to seeing more outstanding talent cultivated in this field. We are also very grateful for the support we have received from the business sector and we hope that our students can work hard in their studies so that they too will be able to give back to the community.”
Professor Hsu-Hsun Lee explained that “in recent years the Large Animal Clinical and Research Center has been cultivating the so-called “learn & practice” veterinarians. The results have been meeting the expectations of the business sector – even before they have graduated from the master’s program, businesses are already snatching these students up. When it comes to the training, we put a very big emphasis on practice and procedure. It’s essential to accumulate this experience, and a lot of time is spent doing diagnostic and treatment patrols. The locations can be all over Taiwan – so having a vehicle for this is very important. We are very grateful to the businesses and farms that offered this support and are helping to nurture the next generation of veterinarians.”
The Jingu Hong, the vice-chair of Creation Food, stated that he “is very glad to participate in this donation. Our company, which operates 17 dairy farms, has received constant assistance and guidance from professor Hsu-Hsun Lee over the years. We hope that by donating this vehicle, we will be able to support one another and make things even better.”
Under the guidance of Professor Hsu-Hsun Lee and Professor Shyh-Shyan Liu, the Large Animal Clinical and Research Center is training up young veterinarians who can meet the needs of industry in Taiwan. The students are accumulating a wealth of experience in clinical medicine and are constantly on the road visiting farms around the country. With over 100 visitations made each year, the students are regularly travelling to dairy farms, including one in Changhua, where they examine 50 to 60 cows each week. With all the time they are spending on the road, the businesses that have been receiving support from the university want to make sure that the students can travel safely and comfortably as they make their rounds – and that the university will be well-resourced to train up more outstanding veterinarians, so that they can continue to keep their animals healthy and happy.
