Mr McLachlan, 70, who retires this month after a nearly 48-year career in the same town, recalled his first day on the job which involved castrating calves.
Smoko of tea and toasties was served at 10am, at lunch-time there was soup, a roast meal and pudding, followed by smoko at 3pm.
"In between times, I did some work. I thought this was going to be good," he said.
Brought up on a farm at Leeston, Mr McLachlan has undoubtedly become one of Waimate’s favourite adopted sons, not only for his veterinary skills but the genial vet’s contribution to the wider community.
He is pipe major of the Waimate Highland Pipe Band and his piping skills are often called upon. The interest has taken him overseas and a highlight was participating in the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in 2003.
"I have been known to turn up to a [vet] job in my kilt," he said.
With an interest in singing dating back to primary school when he would enter church singing competitions, he later learned from renowned singing teacher Clifton Cook.
He joined the Waimate Theatre Company when he arrived and has had various roles, including performing as Javert, the main antagonist, in productions of Les Miserables in Oamaru and Timaru.
Coincidentally, Veterinary Centre Waimate has developed into quite a home for the arts with four musical vets and a dancer. "We don’t have interviews, we have auditions," he quipped.
Mr McLachlan described his career as "a great journey".
"I’ve enjoyed it and the camaraderie, working with other people, getting out and about. You have a hard day at the office, my preference is a hard day at the orifice."
Veterinary care was very different to what it was when he first started. "We didn’t have all the technology we’ve got today. We were only one step ahead of James Herriot [the legendary Yorkshire vet and author] in some respects, even to the point we had for a while our own Mrs Hall [the housekeeper at Skeldale House] who ran the phones and cooked me the odd meal."
He had an RT radio but there were no cellphones or computers and all the accounting was done manually. There was also no red tape, he said.
In recent years, there has been much discussion about stress in the profession. Support was the key to preventing that, Mr McLachlan believed.
"It’s not a problem when things are going right [but] everybody has bad days. It’s all about enjoying the successes and supporting people when the chips are down as a group."
There was nothing quite like the challenge of solving a difficult situation but conversely, vets were also affected when things did not go right.
"We feel it as well, we feel as if we’ve let them down. We don’t live in the perfect world, it’s not like a Toyota you can just put a new motor in. We do the best we can under the circumstances."
Mr McLachlan was grateful to his very supportive wife Kristine and, while he had worked part-time for the past 10 years, he was looking forward to playing more golf once he was fully retired.
A send-off for "McVet" will be held at the Waimate clinic on Friday afternoon, a reference to the number-plate his wife bought him. "What do you buy a man that’s got everything?" he said.
