Dr David Buckle BVSc MANZCVS
Practice Owner
David is a local boy, having grown up a dairy farm at Jancourt East. He completed his veterinary degree in 1995, graduating from the University of Melbourne.
The first few years of his veterinary career were spent in all three major dairying areas of Victoria, along with an 18 month stint working in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
David moved to the Allansford Veterinary Clinic in 2000, then along with Simon and Xavier established the Hampden Veterinary Clinic in 2009.
His main areas of interest are dairy cow lameness treatment and prevention, as well as transition cow management. David takes great pride in mentoring graduate veterinarians and is part of the Academic Associate program through the University of Melbourne Vet School.
Away from HVC, David is the father of three daughters and believes he has developed quite an expertise at all things netball. His daughters would beg to differ!
He is a member of the local golf, cricket and football clubs and he still maintains that Essendon are building a future premiership team. Family holidays to Port Douglas are his most treasured times of the year.
Dr. Simon Dean BVSc (Hons)
Practice Owner
Simon was born and raised on a sheep and cropping farm east of Stawell, in Victoria’s southern Wimmera region.
After completing his secondary schooling locally, at Stawell Secondary College, Simon began his Veterinary Science Degree in 1994 at Melbourne University, graduating with honours in 1998.
Simon began working in private veterinary practice in Kyabram, where dairy was the main focus of his practice and interests.
A move to south west Victoria came in June 2000, where Simon continued his focus on, cattle, both dairy and beef also developing his equine, sheep and small animals skills at Camperdown.
2005 saw a stint in the United Kingdom where, across three practices in rural England and Wales, Simon again extended his experience working with cattle (mainly dairy), as well as equine, sheep and small animals.
In 2006, he returned to Camperdown vets, until commencing as a foundation partner at Hampden Veterinary Clinic. He combines this with family life with wife Fiona and their four young children.
Simon is an Australian Cattle Vets Accredited Pregnancy Tester and has completed the Repro right advisors course and the Countdown milk quality course.
Simon spends the vast majority of his time on farm, particularly with cattle, however he also enjoys working with horses, dogs, cats, goats and especially sheep.
Beyond the clinic, Simon maintains a key interest in farming, football, tennis and golf; he has played football with local Hampden and Warrnambool and District league clubs since moving to the region in 2000 and is currently a member of the Cobden Golf Club and Hampden Tennis Association and enjoys being involved at the Cobden Footy Club juniors.
Dr Xavier McKinnon BVSc
Practice Owner
Xavier grew up the son of a 3rd generation dairy farmer just outside of Terang in South West Victoria.
After attending school locally he boarded at St. Patrick’s College in Ballarat for the last 3 years of secondary schooling. Upon graduation he attended Melbourne University for his first year of study before completing his Veterinary Science degree at the University of Queensland in Brisbane.
Xavier worked for 3 years at Korumburra in South Gippsland, primarily dealing with dairy cattle but also treating dogs, cats, sheep and horses. After this he moved to England for 3 years where he worked for the Westpoint Veterinary Group based out of West Sussex.
After leaving England, Xavier worked as a consultant for BPU meat Uruguay for 3 months in 2008-09. After finishing in Uruguay in February 2009 Xavier returned to Australia to join the newly formed Hampden Veterinary Clinic.
Xavier has a passion for dairy cattle medicine and herd health strategies to minimise disease and maximise profits. He has completed the Repro Right course run by Dairy Australia – this course focuses on reproduction in dairy cattle, encompassing calf health, bull fertility as well as cow fertility – and is currently undertaking the Countdown milk quality course. He is a PregCheck accredited pregnancy tester as well as a BullCheck accredited bull tester. These are quality assurance programs run by the Australian Cattle Veterinarians ensuring the customer receives a high quality service from experienced vets.
Xavier is also an APAV accredited veterinarian (APAV is the national program designed to integrate private veterinary practitioners into the national animal health system to support the international standing of Australia’s animal health service capability).
Xavier currently consults to a beef cattle breeding and feedlot farm in Kazakhstan, where he travels to twice yearly and communicates regularly with the on site managers.
An active member in the local community, Xavier has been involved as a player and coach with the Terang/Mortlake football club and as a committee member for the Western Branch of the Australian Veterinary Association.
Dr Anthony Down BVSc (Hons)
Practice Owner
Anthony grew up on a sheep and beef farm in Codrington. After completing school in Warrnambool, he made the journey to the Sunshine State for his Veterinary degree, which he completed in 2004. He spent 10 years as a mixed practice vet, in Cobram, the UK and Warrnambool before focusing solely on small animals. He has a particular interest in surgery, and is passionate about being able to offer orthopedic solutions to clients locally.
Anthony owns a crazy labrador called Cricket, who never returns to him when asked, and a 3-legged Burmese named Sammy, who spends 95% of his life sleeping on the couch. Outside of work Anthony like to spend time with his family, and exploring new places in his caravan.
Dr Wendy Parish BAgSc DVM
Wendy grew up on a dairy farm in Winchelsea, Victoria. She moved to Melbourne in 2014 to complete her Bachelor of Agriculture degree from the University of Melbourne, before graduating from her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 2020.
Wendy moved back to her family farm with her husband and joined the HVC team in 2021. She has a passion for production animal herd health with a special interest in dairy, sheep, and goat medicine.
Wendy owns an energetic kelpie called Ivy, two pet goats, Devin and Siddle, that eat all the garden plants and a small flock of pet sheep. Wendy likes exploring the local beaches, lakes and walking tracks with her husband and kelpie. She also enjoys reading trashy novels in her spare time and travelling to new destinations.
Dr Erin Craven
Erin was born and bred in the south west, where she went to school in Timboon, and spent her weekends playing netball for the Timboon Demons. Her family has a dairy farm with stud Holsteins, which she still spends lots of time at.
Erin started working at HVC in April 2022, before that she has worked at WVC for 4 years as a mixed animal vet, after completing her veterinary studies at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga.
She has a special interest in cattle reproduction, and has completed the ReproRight & Countdown milk quality courses.
These days Erin spends her time on her small farm with her husband, their dog Murphy & cat Eddie. She enjoys running, drinking coffee, and cooking.
Dr Cathryn Saunders-Donaldson BSc DVM
Cathryn graduated from Murdoch University in December 2021 and made the brave move from sunny WA to Cobden to start her journey with the Hampden Vet Clinic team.
Cathryn grew up as an avid horse rider and initially wanted to be an equine vet but after spending two weeks on a beef farm in WA’s southwest she fell in love with cattle and decided mixed practice was the career for her. She enjoys all aspects of large and small animal practice but has a more focused interest in all things feline, cattle medicine and calf rearing, husbandry, and medicine.
When she’s not working, Cathryn spends her time catching up with friends and keeping warm and cosy with her two cats Hudson and Richard in the winter. In the summer you’ll find Cathryn exploring the national parks and looking for the best margarita in Victoria. Cathryn also volunteers for the local shire in fostering and raising orphaned kittens.
Dr Eliza Wuestner BSc DVM
Eliza joined the HVC team in 2022 after completing the Bachelor of Animal and Veterinary Bioscience and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degrees at the University of Sydney.
She grew up in Wollongong, on the south coast of NSW. Her special interests include herd health and cattle medicine.
Outside of work, Eliza enjoys spending time at the coast and eating good food.
Dr Chelsea Skuza BSc DVM
Chelsea grew up on the Bellarine Peninsula and joined HVC in February 2023 after graduating from the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Melbourne in 2022.
Chelsea spent her childhood on a small hobby farm, where she developed her passion for working with animals. Throughout high school and university, she worked as a veterinary nurse at a GP and emergency vet clinic in Geelong, before moving out to the beautiful Victorian south-west. She enjoys all aspects of mixed practice and likes encountering new challenges. Chelsea particularly enjoys small and large animal surgery, cattle medicine, and emergency work.
When not working, Chelsea spends her time catching up with friends, going for runs with her boisterous kelpie Nani, reading a book, or binging a new TV show.