"Sheep were inspected in those days for lice at sale yards and farmers ticketed to treat, or fined if sheep were found very lousy on repeat offences.
"It was the law of the land in those days. Not a popular part of the job."
Livestock officers were also trained on how to present a case for prosecution.
"I preferred education and coercion rather than prosecution, but I had to take some five prosecutions in my time with MAF, all of which were prima facie cases and all were successful."
One of those cases in the early 1990s resulted in a small mob of cattle uplifted and re-pastured for some two years awaiting the outcome. The owner was convicted, the biggest fine against an individual under the Animals Protection Act in NZ at the time with the animals forfeited to the Crown.
Mr Cooney's interest in health and safety led him to write several booklets promoting good cattle and deer yards designs for both animals and people, and study facial eczema, which particularly affects sheep, cattle and fallow deer.
"Facial eczema, still remains and causes in some years, one of the biggest losses of production in ruminants in the North Island. I'm proud to have been proactive and warn veterinarians and farmers ahead of outbreaks before these outbreaks occurred ... based on four decades of monitoring spore counts and predicting the degree of risk.
"The worst outbreaks of FE have always followed droughts in the late summer and autumn when warm rain falls on warm soil, and along with rotting vegetation, sparks off an outbreak. It becomes a bit like weather forecasting after years of experience.
"It still staggers me that more money is not put into ongoing research for such a terrible disease that causes untold suffering in affected animals and unnecessary losses."
Another memory was testing the first quarantined shipment of llamas and alpacas to come to NZ from Chile in 1986, helping at the Somes Island Quarantine Station with the first shipments of Wapiti deer imported from Canada, and later testing goats imported from South Africa.
"Those were the crazy days of the goat industry, when goats suddenly become worth a fortune until the global stock market crash of 1987."
Mr Cooney was also involved with the first trials on sheep farms in the Horowhenua in the late 1980s, testing a new hormone insect growth regulator (IGRs) Cyromazine, one of the first pour-ons to prevent fly strike in sheep.
"It proved to be a very successful flystrike preventative. Flystrike had been costing the NZ sheep industry millions.
"In those good old days, we often led the world in ground-breaking animal research. There was a lot of government funding put into animal research back then and I still think it was a sound investment, very much lacking today."
One of the huge rewards was helping reduce attacks of Bovine TB, from more than 1800 herds on movement control in past years to just 50 herds this year, and seeing Brucellosis eradicated from national cattle herds.
"Brucellosis caused contagious abortion in cows and cost the country millions of dollars in losses up until the 1970s. It also put our USA beef export markets in jeopardy had it not been eradicated.
"I still reflect on the huge logistics involved ... without cell phones or modern technology. Ringing up farmers on the phone in those days was mostly through an operator on an exchange."
While many pests and diseases have not got past NZ borders, Mr Cooney warns we must remain vigilant.
"Foot and Mouth has never become established in NZ, but it could still happen. It could ruin the livestock industry in NZ until eradicated."
Retiring last month, Mr Cooney said he is now looking forward to spending more time with family and friends as well as his other passion, flying recreational aircraft.
"I would like to thank the farmers, lifestyle block owners, veterinarians, stock agents and carriers and others I have met and worked with, for their friendship and co-operation over many years. I enjoyed working with you all."
