City-level service for rural communities
In Tropical North Queensland, access to high-quality veterinary care has traditionally meant long drives to metropolitan centres. For Tableland Veterinary Service, closing that gap underpins every business decision, from the scope of its services to building and sharing expertise across teams.
“We aspire to bring a standard of medicine, facilities and service to our regional clients that they would otherwise have to travel to the city to access,” says Jason Chuck, General Manager of Tableland Veterinary Service.
Land, livestock, and the next generation of veterinary care
Alongside preventative pet care, emergency medicine and surgery, Tableland Veterinary Service’s work extends beyond individual animals to support livelihoods across the region.
The team provides livestock services, is the chosen veterinary partner for Tree Kangaroo Rescue on the Atherton Tableland, and operates the only equine hospital north of Townsville.
The business’ ambulatory large animal services cover over 1,000 kilometres of remote and regional terrain across North Queensland, offering critical on-site care for regions where long travel times can delay treatment and affect animal welfare.
Supporting cattle producers is also central to the practice’s offering, including herd health and advisory support for the Atherton Tableland’s dairy industry, alongside reproductive examinations and services for beef producers – helping sustain family-run operations and agricultural supply chains the region relies on.
Tableland Veterinary’s partnership with James Cook University also sees the business playing a hands-on role in the future of the profession.
The Malanda clinic runs a satellite university campus and welcomes final-year students undertaking their compulsory cattle clinical rotation.
A banking partner that understands the profession
Supporting such a broad, regionally critical operation requires a banking partner that understands both the veterinary sector and the realities of regional business.
For Tableland Veterinary Service, that support proved particularly important during a period of significant change. After restructuring the business to a more appropriate company model in 2024, an opportunity arose to purchase another clinic in the region.
“Our BOQ Specialist banking team were on hand to discuss how we restructure our finance in a way that best set us up for future success,” Jason says. “They made the loan application process straightforward and guided us towards products that best suited our immediate cash flow needs, while remaining sustainable over the long term.”
During the post-COVID period, when vet shortages and rising operational pressures affected the profession broadly, support extended beyond transactions.
“[BOQ Specialist] provided us short-term overdraft facilities to manage our cash flow and helped us restructure our long-term loans as we emerged from this period and prepared for future growth,” Jason says.
Community at the heart
Even with seven locations and more than 100 employees, Jason maintains people are at the heart of everything they do, and BOQ Specialist shares that same commitment.
“Our emphasis is squarely on the rural communities of Tropical North Queensland, and it is rewarding to work with a banking partner that shares our commitment to this beautiful state.”
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