Carry On Working: The challenges facing vets during the pandemic
Over the next couple of weeks, ITV Border will be looking at the lives of key workers who are battling through all the challenges of the pandemic to provide a service for us.
One of those groups is vets. They still need to treat animals and support the farming industry. But it can be more difficult at times, as vet Richard Spooner, in Kirkby Stephen, has been finding out.
He's designated as a key worker because his skills are badly needed by the farming community, to keep their businesses running and food production continuing.
Richard said: "We obviously have to tend to attend to emergencies, sick animals, but mostly at this time of year it's animals giving birth, lambing time, calving. There have been a lot of normal problems but we've had to go and deal with them on our own rather than having assistance."
That was particularly true in one instance where he had to deliver a calf by caesarean section, something that would normally require two people.
Due to the government's policies on social distancing, Richard had no other option but to do it all himself. He explains: "Normally the way we do the caesareans is a one vet job but we would have a farmer there as an assistant to physically lift the calf from the cow.
"They can be quite heavy at birth. It's exactly the same process but it was quite heavy to carry a calf on your own and get it far enough away so that I could leave it, and they [the farmer] could attend to it without being within two metres of me."
The video of him performing the caesarian on his own has been viewed and shared thousands of times on social media. He said: "Apparently the calf is doing fine, cow and calf both ok.
"I haven't been back to see it because I've had no reason to, but Rachel has been letting us know how popular the video was and how the cow and calf are both fine."
The practice where he works in Kirkby Stephen, in Cumbria, has decided not to do routine work on small animals at the moment but farm work is still continuing.
Coronavirus may have created new difficulties for vets but as Richard has proved they're finding ways to carry on with their role as key workers and support the farming industry.