Spotlight On: Eilidh Thomson
I grew up in Falkirk, Scotland with a house full of dogs, cats, hamsters and guinea pigs. We had horses all my life but I think I had always wished that I lived on a farm. I remember wanting to be a vet at the tender age of eight, and I achieved that dream when I went to the University of Glasgow in 2009. After the ups and downs of a tough course, I vowed I would never go back to studying and doing exams!
For the first few years of my career, I worked as a mixed animal vet in the North East of Scotland. It was true James Herriot practice, and I saw everything from bulldogs to bulls as well as being exposed to the weird and wonderful including snakes and alpacas. I’m not sure exactly when my interest in fertility started but, in my second job, I started pushing to go on calls to scan cows and test bulls. I organised meetings with our farmers to discuss calving performance and herd health. It took me a long time to realise that practice life might not be for me and, not being fully aware of what options were available to me, I reached out to a former lecturer at Glasgow to see what opportunities existed in cattle reproduction.
Driving over to Dublin in the middle of the pandemic to start a cattle reproduction residency was the scariest thing I’ve ever done. But I’ve not regretted the decision once, despite the massive amount of studying and the thought of exams looming! I have just completed my thesis on pre-breeding examinations in dairy heifers and the effect on their future reproductive performance, as well as that of their offspring. This project involved several farm visits with a fabulous team, late nights spinning bloods and a lot of drafts for the papers. I thoroughly enjoyed the research, and I have loved the teaching aspect of the job as well. I would never have thought that I would have liked teaching as much but, being able to inspire even one young vet student and let them know how much this degree opens up for them, is incredible!
The future plan may involve a PhD and/or a move to New Zealand! Outside of work, I love travelling and have used any excuse (including externships) to visit countries that I have never been to before. Top of my bucket list at the moment is Canada and I have just found out my exams are in Vienna, so that will be another new place to tick off! When I’m stuck at home, I love baking and will often use people’s birthdays as an excuse to make cake instead of studying. My two lurchers, Flo and Tiger, and my cat Spud, keep me company when I’m not off exploring Ireland with my office mates.