Nurses

Vets

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Animal Careers

Nurses Vets Technicians Animal Careers

Student placements

As one of the largest independently owned vet clinics in New Zealand, we are confident Rangiora Vet Centre can provide students, at any stage of veterinary study, with a quality work experience.

We feel our clinic, which employs 35 vets across 3 branches, gives students the opportunity to see how a busy and successful mixed practice operates, whilst remaining passionate, as well as continually supplying top quality service to its clients. 

  • Our Rangiora Vet Centre provides a wide range of interesting Small Animal medical and surgical cases all year round. Our clinic having achieved the NZVA Hospital Standards means clients received the highest level of Best Practice accreditation available in New Zealand.

     We are an ISFM Cat Friendly clinic, we operate a 24/7 After-Hours on-site clinic, and the majority of our vet staff hold post-graduate qualifications covering internal medicine, imaging, dentistry, acupuncture, emergency care and surgery. We have an experienced and passionate support staff team including a VTS anaesthesia tech and physiotherapy/rehabilitation team onsite.

    Our modern spacious hospital includes 2 large theatres, a dedicated dental suite, 20 walk-in kennels, 6 consult rooms and a separate cattery. The established referral surgical caseload is supported by extensive surgical, anaesthesia and supportive care instrumentation and equipment.

    We are privileged to have our own CT on site and have local access to MRI services.

  • This work is more variable depending on the time of year, it is worthwhile giving consideration as to which month would be most worthwhile for you to visit, to ensure you get the most out of your clinical experience and participate in the things of interest to you.

    The strength of our agricultural economy is built around the efficiency of feeding grass outside, when it grows. Thus, we aim to have both dairy cows and ewes at peak lactation in the late spring, to maximise the efficiency of converting growing grass into animal protein. For this reason, our farming system is highly seasonal, to a much greater extent than most international visitors realise.

    Nearly every dairy cow in the country calves in August - September; they all need to get back in calf in October - November - December; they all get pregnancy tested in January - March; and they are all dried off in May. Hardly any cows are in milk in June and July, there is some variation in timing around the country, but that is the overriding pattern.

    What this means for a rural mixed vet practice, with a high component of clinical work as dairy, is that our calendar is highly seasonal too. We do a lot of particular jobs for a couple of months, then all of a sudden that job stops, and we start the next seasonal task, and are very busy with that for a couple of months, until it is time to move to the next one. All peri-calving and neo-natal work (calving’s, post calving issues, calf medicine, reproductive work) occurs in a short period from August to November.

    The main activities for large animal work occur mostly within the timeframes given below:

    DAIRY

    • Calving from mid-July until the end of October

    • Disbudding calves from mid-August to December.

    • Pregnancy testing from mid-December on into May usually done with backpack scanners and individual headsets.

    • Reproductive services (metri-checking and non-cycling cows) in September, October and November.

    • Dry off procedures (administration of internal teat sealants and dry cow antibiotic therapies) April to mid-June

    SHEEP

    • Mostly lifestyle block work, with some commercial ram palpations in December

    BEEF CATTLE

    • Pregnancy testing in March and April.

    DEER

    • De-velveting from end October to early February.

    ALPACAS

    • Castrations in November and April

    • Birthing assist from October to December

    There are various other large animal jobs that occur all year round such as equine work, individual sick animal visits, lame cow treatment, emergencies, and the occasional goat and alpaca visit.

  • Our Equine Team offer a wide range of services. Winter (June-August) is our off season in which we are generally a bit quieter. The sport horse and racing work ensures optimal performance in the industry including:

    • Lameness and poor performance investigations

    • Preseason health checks

    • Personalised training and fitness programmes

    • In house blood testing

    • Dentistry including wolf tooth removal

    • Shockwave, PRP and IRAP treatments

    • Pre-purchase examinations

    • Wound Management

    • Acupuncture

    • Surgery including castrations

    • Upper respiratory tract examination

    • Endoscopy

    • Tracheal wash

    • Stem cells

    The stud/breeding season runs from September through to January with work including:-

    • Foaling’s and emergency caesareans

    • Personalised breeding programmes for mares and stallions

    • Rectal ultrasound scanning

    • Natural service

    • Artificial insemination using fresh and frozen semen

    • Embryo transfer

    • Pregnancy testing

    • Anti-natal care and mare vaccinations

    • Foal medicine and care

    • Angular limb deformity corrective procedures

    • Splinting

    • Hoof extensions

    • Periosteal strip

    • Surgical correction

    We also offer disease and prevention advice and vaccination including:-

    • Tetanus, Strangles, Herpes and Salmonella

    • Fecal Egg Counting, parasite prevention and drenching programs

    • Nutrition and dietary advice

    • In-house blood diagnostics

    We have a full equine surgery offering major procedures including:

    • Arthroscopic surgery and fracture repair

    • Colic Surgery

    • Upper respiratory surgery including laser

    • Lameness diagnosis and ultrasonography

     Minor surgical procedures include:-

    • Castrations

    • Dental procedures

    • Foal surgeries

    • Caslicks and vaginal surgeries

    • Wound management

    • Hernia Repairs 

    We are also the only vet clinic south of Massey University to offer equine CT services.

 
 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

We operate an application process for students, please complete application form if you wish to proceed. Our application process requires you to also supply your CV.

It is important you return your application form promptly, as your placement will only be confirmed once we have reviewed your application and confirmed we have a placement available to fill at your desired time.

  • Vet Nursing Students: Please do not submit your clinical placement application until you have completed the required animal care facility placement hours at the start of Level 6 Diploma of Veterinary Nursing programme.

  • Vet Tech Students: We are not in a position to confirm bookings for Vet tech Students for the 2025 year ahead yet, (will look to do this late February 2025). We suggest you apply, but also discuss with your tutors when and what you would need to see, and do in terms of your clinical placement. We will then try to accommodate this in the corresponding season. To be fair to all students we tend to offer a 3-day placement during the peak seasonal periods of dry-off and de-budding per student to begin with. Further clinical placement is subject to your performance, team fit etc. during the initial 3 day period.

student placement turns into 15 years @ RVC!

In 2002 a visiting vet student called Sophie from The Royal Vet College in London, had a work experience placement with Rangiora Vet Centre. She continued on her travels, returning a few more times over the next couple of years, she liked us and we liked her, but most of all, the animals liked her too!
15 years ago she returned for good and joined the Vet team. In September 2024, we celebrated and congratulated Sophie Neilson, now our Clinical Care Manager, a much loved, skilled, caring and compassionate person, who is widely appreciated by our team and clients, on 15 Years with us.

We're celebrating Deb!

Our wonderful vet nurse, Deb, has reached 10 years of service at RVC!

Many of our clients know Deb for her expertise, kindness, and the genuine care she shows every pet. But what a lot of people don't know is that behind the scenes, Deb organises and mentors the student nurses on placement, sharing her skills, knowledge and making them welcome in our busy clinic. She goes above and beyond, we're all so lucky to have her!

Student Placement Application Form

LOGISTICS:

  • Rangiora is the largest town in the Waimakariri District, in Canterbury, 29 kilometres north of Christchurch city, on the South Island of New Zealand.

  • If you are flying into Christchurch Airport you will need to hire a vehicle to travel to the clinic and to get to and from the clinic each day you are on placement.

  • If you are travelling by road, from the North Island you will reach Rangiora before Christchurch City.

  • Accommodation: We have some staff members that offer local accommodation for students if this is something you require. Commuting via road from Christchurch City is not uncommon. There are a number of staff who do this. We are easily accessible via an easy drive on the motorway.

  • There is no public transport option in Rangiora township. There is a bus service from Rangiora into Christchurch City, however the bus stops and schedules do not align well with daily clinic life.

To apply for a placement or to have discus opportunities, please submit the form above or contact our Practice Manager Craig Perriman directly
Email:     craigp@rangvet.co.nz
Phone:   021-0348383

For more information on Rangiora and the surrounding area, follow the links below:

https://www.tourism.net.nz/region/christchurch/rangiora

https://www.newzealand.com/au/rangiora/