FARM ANIMAL VETERINARIANS

Karienne graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2012 and joined our team in 2013 as a mixed veterinarian.  Originally hailing from a beef and sheep property in North East Victoria, Karienne was drawn to South Gippsland for its natural beauty and dairy cows. 

In 2019 Karienne travelled and worked in the United Kingdom, but returned to GVG to pursue her interest in production animal medicine.  Karienne is a qualified Repro Right advisor, and milk quality advisor. She has special interests in calf health and management, mastitis and sheep medicine. 

She is a member of our Production Animal Management committee and is very passionate about continuing education for our vets.  Karienne spends her spare time with her husband and two beautiful young children. 

Paul graduated from the University of Pretoria, South Africa in 2009. He spent his first 3 years as a large animal vet not far from where he grew up in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. Subsequently, an insightful 3 year stint as technical consultant for the ruminant’s division of a global pharmaceutical company helped him realize his place on farms helping farmers improve stock health, productivity, and profitability.

This saw a move to Australia to get his hands dirty again as a large animal vet. To better understand decisions and health interventions on farms, Paul undertook an MSc in applied animal health economics and epidemiology at the University of Calgary, Canada where his findings on bovine Johnes Disease control were published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Paul joined GVG in 2019 and now enjoys applying experience from his varied background everyday out on farms.  He became a director in late 2023, with particular focus on production animals, systems and occupational health & safety.  Outside of work, Paul enjoys travelling and all South Gippsland has to offer in the way of mountain biking, water activities, golf, gardening and spending time with his wife Meg and their beloved cats.

Peter graduated from the University of Queensland in 1991 and was awarded a Bachelor of Veterinary Science with Honours. In 1992, Peter commenced employment with the Tarwin Veterinary Group. In 1994, Pete travelled extensively in Europe and was employed as a locum in various dairy practices in the United Kingdom.

Upon returning to Australia in 1995, Peter returned to the company and became a partner in 1997. In 2003 Peter left TVG and was employed by Strategic Bovine Services where he provided consultancy services to dairy farms in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania before returning to TVG as a Director in 2007.

In 2010, Pete was awarded a PhD in dairy cattle nutrition and epidemiology from the University of Sydney. He has lectured at local and international conferences and published a number of papers in peer reviewed scientific journals on various topics in dairy cattle nutrition.

Christo graduated from the University of Pretoria at Onderstepoort, South Africa in 1985. He enjoyed a mixed workload of cattle, sheep and small animals. He owned his own small animal practice for 5 years before immigrating to New Zealand in 1997.

He worked for the most time in the Waikato, in Hamilton, where his workload was mixed again, but with a larger emphasis on cattle work.

Christo moved to Australia for family reasons and joined Maffra Vet Centre in 2015 where his main work was with farm animals and some equine work. He joined Gippsland Vet Group in 2023 and is servicing now mainly farm animals. His main interests are cattle lameness and reproduction and is based in Leongatha at the Livestock and Equine Centre.

Christo enjoys the outdoors and likes to go hiking and kayaking. During his spare time he likes to watch rugby and rally car racing and he is very fond of Great Danes.

Pieter qualified in 1987 from Onderstepoort Vet School in South Africa. After finishing 2 years in the army he and his wife Marietjie travelled throughout Europe for 3 months before they settled in a small country town in South Africa. They started their own mixed practice there where they both worked for 18 years. They also farmed with beef cattle and sheep.

In 2007 Pieter, Marietjie and their three children moved to Australia in search of a better life. After working in Korumburra for 5 years he joined the Tarwin Vet Group team in the beginning of 2012. His main interest has always been farm animals, especially cattle and sheep. Pieter became a director of GVG in 2016 and was a valued member of the board until he stepped down in mid-2025.  He continues to contribute greatly to the management of the livestock side of the business and enjoys his longstanding relationships with many of our farming clients. 

When not working, Pieter enjoys fishing, reading, camping and travelling around Australia.