Vet Club invests $2.2m in Temuka’s clinic

A $2.2 million investment in a veterinary clinic in the middle of a dairy downturn was the result of an unexpected series of events, according to its board of directors.

The state-of-the-art Vetlife clinic at Temuka was officially opened last week by Prime Minister John Key, about five or six years after the land was purchased for the development by the South and Mid Canterbury Vet Club (SMCVC).

The SMCVC owns several veterinarian clinics throughout the Canterbury region and it was renting the Temuka clinic to Vetlife, Vetlife director Herstall Ulrich explained.

Ulrich said the new building had already drawn a lot of interest from the community with ‘‘many people asking’’ how it had been possible in the midst of the dairy downturn.

‘‘We’re not charging other [nondairy] farmers more, or anything like that,’’ Ulrich, who is also a member of the SMCVC’s executive committee, joked.

With the land having been purchased prior to the dairy slump, the building finally eventuated following a sudden series of events, he said.

‘‘Someone came along and offered to buy the Vet Club’s former building in Temuka, which wasn’t ideal for the vets’ needs.

‘‘We’d already bought the [new] section, and the sale of the [former] property yielded enough cash for us to be able to put a deposit on the build - so we decided to just get on with it.’’

The need for a more suitable veterinarian’s building in Temuka had long been recognised by the SMCVC, Ulrich said.

Hamish Moorhead, SMCVC financial secretary, said the sale of another property in Ashburton had also helped, along with a bank loan.

The SMCVC owned and rented out several clinics across the mid South Island, including in Ashburton, Methven, and Fairlie, Moorhead said.

It had also recently built a $1 million clinic in Pleasant Point, and ‘‘a while back’’ another in Oamaru for $1.2 million.

The organisation budgeted and hoped to regain expenses from the renting veterinarians over time, Moorhead said.

‘‘For anyone with rentals, loss is always a potential, but things are run pretty conservatively,’’ he said.

Duncan Crosbie, a senior vet working for Vetlife Temuka, said he was not concerned the veterinarian business might suffer due to the dairy drop.

‘‘Plenty of people need to be fed, so we’re optimistic for the future - there’ll always be a demand for farming and therefore vets,’’ he said.

MYTCHALL BRANSGROVE/ FAIRFAX NZ Vetlife staff. From left, Amy Lalonde, Jagdeep Singh, Paul Johnson, Duncan Crosbie, Leesa Bowles, Margaret Davidson and Hannah Dippie.