Veterinary Surgeons
Your Vets
Roger Bay BVSc Dip VCS - Partner
Roger was born in the eastern Waikato under the mountain called Te Aroha. He spent the early years of his life growing up on a farm surrounded with every animal that could be captured, incubated, tanned or tamed!
By the age of 12 he had decided that rising at 4am to milk cows every day and leaving the beach by 2pm in the afternoon to again milk those cows was reason enough to consider an alternative - but complimentary career path. It was only later that he realised he would often be getting up a lot earlier – and not getting to the beach at all in his chosen life vocation!
Seven years at Massey University training and working brought Roger to seek new adventures in the beautiful Nelson region.
After a few years as an employee, Roger decided it was time to go out on his own and start a mixed, large and small animal Veterinary practice based in Richmond, but servicing the greater Nelson region. Roger started in 1993 as CRT Vets, based from the Richmond CRT store with the fantastic support of Karen Mackey and Jack Varley. The veterinary business grew rapidly. By the end of the decade they were providing comprehensive services to all fields of animal health with a team of vets and support staff.
The change of business name and building to Town & Country Vet occurred in 2005. This was largely because of the successful growth of clients, staff and services provided.
Throughout this time, Roger and his wife Rebekah have developed a farm and had a family of their own with four beautiful children. Roger is still a part time farmer and our new Beacon Hill Equine Clinic was set up at his property near Richmond in 2008.
When asked why Roger thinks the business has grown so significantly over this time, he can only point to the great people that have committed themselves to the business and the genuine belief that our clients and their animals should be treated the way we would like our own family to be treated.
Click here to contact Roger.
Danny Hajdu BVSc - Partner
Danny was born and raised in Kakahi in the North Island. His heritage is Slovakian and Ukranian and he recently went on a mission to track down more family members in Europe! Danny has a passion for small furry creatures, and from a young age he has taken in all the less unfortunate animals in this world. Ok so thats not strictly true! But he has adopted the local stray cat and has a flock of turkeys roaming the farm.
Danny graduated at the top of the class from Massey in 1977 and worked in general practice in Taranaki and over in Australia. He also spent a couple of years overseas including a stint in general practice in Zimbabwe.
Danny returned to New Zealand and moved to Nelson in 1992. He was planning to travel about and be a locum until Roger Bay snapped him up and they joined forces as CRT Vets. Danny lives out in Tapawera and spends most of his time travelling between farms and goes undercover during sheep scanning season.
Outside of Town & Country Vet, Danny is a passionate fisherman and can often be found roaming the banks of the Motueka River!
Click here to contact Danny.
Llyn Powell BVSc - Partner
Llyn originally came from Kirikau, a small farming settlement 21 miles south of Taumarunui. He was brought up on a large sheep and beef hill country farm and attended the local school with a total of 13 children! He also claims to have been head boy at St Paul’s Collegiate in Hamilton!?
He attended Massey University and graduated in 1988. He worked in Tokoroa with Wally Nederer (mixed practice with a large hunting/sport horse client base) and at Southern Rangitikei Vet Service (mixed practice with a large race/polo/sport horse client base). He then headed overseas to the UK where he mostly worked in mixed practices around Manchester.
Llyn returned to NZ in 1995 when he joined Roger and Danny at CRT Vets.
Llyn is definitely our most diverse vet! He has a developing horse clientele and is often seen touring the Nelson/Tasman/Golden Bay area performing horse dentistry and lameness examinations. His special interests are in small animal orthopedics, equine lameness and equine dentistry. He loves our new equine facility, Beacon Hill Equine Clinic, and spends many hour staring into horses mouths! He is proud of the Town & Country crew and how much fun they are to work with!
To relax Llyn can be found taking part of many sports, water & snow skiing, windsurfing, racquet sports, touch rubgy and mountain biking. He also enjoys diving, fishing and has recently got back into golf. Llyn lives on a lifestyle block close to Richmond with his wife Sally and 2 children, Scarlet (6) and Hamish (4).
Click here to contact Llyn.
Jeff Grimmett BVSc Diplomate ACT - Practice Manager
Born and raised in Ashburton, Jeff qualified as a vet in 1973 from Massey University and later (1982) completed a specialist training at the University of Florida. He is a Registered Specialist in Equine Reproduction both in NZ and the USA.
Jeff initially worked in a mixed animal vet practice in Helensville, Oamaru, Canada (Nova Scotia) and the UK (Hertfordshire). For most of his clinical career he practiced in the Waikato specialising in equine reproduction. Since 1996 Jeff has shifted gradually into vet practice business management, first as Managing Partner up in Matamata and more recently as a consultant to various vet practices around NZ. In 2005 he moved to Nelson to work as the Practice Manager at Town & Country Vet. They say Jeff is now the elastic bit that holds the T+C Vet 6 pack together and he enjoys getting our staff working together as a happy and efficient team. Jeff’s hobbies include his family (wife Sally, 3 adult children, 2 grandchildren), food, wine, tramping, fishing and poetry. He is a keen member of the Bays Barbershop Chorus, and always has at least one dog – although just now is in-between dogs!
Click here to contact Jeff.
Paula Oram BVSc - Associate
Paula was born and raised in Southland and grew up on a harness racing stables which helped with her decision to be a vet. She moved up to Palmeston North to attend Massey University and graduated in 1999. Since then Paula has practiced in Australia and the UK and was lucky enough to have the opportunity to do volunteer vet work in Nepal, Morocco and Ethiopia.
Paula has been in Nelson since 2004. She is a mixed animal vet but spends more time these days with the small animal side of the clinic. She can usually be found in the hub of activity at our Richmond Clinic, but consults once a week at Wakefield.
Outside of work Paula is married to Kelvin and has one short tailed cat called Lulu and Billie, the gorgeous but very naughty beagle. She enjoys cooking and socialising. Paula also has an identical twin!
Click here to contact Paula.
April Rumsey BVSc - Associate
April grew up in Auckland and graduated from Massey University in 1986. She worked in Auckland for 2 years before going to the UK on her OE for several years where she worked as a small animal vet.
April has been with Town & Country Vet for 9 years and works as a small animal vet. She is interested in soft tissue surgery, medicine and dermatology.
She enjoys the variety of animals we deal with, and pleasant friendly attitude of our clients. Outside of work her two children, cat and rabbit keep her busy!
Click here to contact April.
Brenda Halliwell BVSc - Associate
Brenda was born in Wellington but grew up overseas in the UK and Africa until she was 5 years old. She then returned to Wellington to complete her schooling and graduated from Massey in 1993. She spent 2 years in Gore in a mixed practice before heading off on her OE back to the UK, where she worked mostly as a small animal locum for about 7 years.
Brenda came back to New Zealand and moved to Nelson in 2007. She lives here with her husband and three children, 2 ridgebacks and 1 moggy. To relax Brenda enjoys walking her dog, running, pilates and snowboarding.
Brenda works part time at both the Richmond and Wakefield clinics.
Click here to contact Brenda.
Hyperbaric O2 is here!
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) can be defined as a treatment where a patient breathes 100% oxygen intermittently while inside a treatment chamber at a pressure higher than sea level. While breathing pure oxygen at increased pressure the normal haemoglobin mechanism for carrying oxygen is quickly saturated and the extra oxygen is then dissolved... Read More
