Care and advice – the changing role of farm vets

The traditional image of a rural farm vet is often based on the characters and adventures in the James Herriot novels. This role centred on the emergency treatment of sick animals, meaning that a visit from the vet was usually a last resort.

The role of farm vets has, however, changed significantly over the past 50 years, with an emphasis on preventative advisory work. This has the aim of helping farmers to identify potential problems before they occur and put measures in place to safeguard the health and productivity of their stock.

Being proactive in this way builds resilience of farm businesses and helps farmers to adapt to the ever changing agricultural climate. A visit from the vet nowadays is therefore more routine and not always bad news!

The modern vet supports farmers in several key areas. The first is in proactive disease management, which involves monitoring and reducing the spread of a wide range of infectious diseases. In cattle, these include Bovine Tuberculosis, Johne’s Disease and Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD).

These diseases are prevalent in the UK and are difficult to eradicate, largely because their symptoms are non-specific and subtle, and can often only be confirmed by veterinary sampling and laboratory testing. In this way, vets offer an important point of contact for expertise and reassurance when animals are affected by disease, and/ or are not achieving their productive potential.

vet on farm

Nutrition is a key driver of animal productivity and although many farmers will also seek the advice of specialist nutritionists, vets can offer an independent and unbiased opinion on whether animals are getting what they need from their diet for maximal health and productivity. This may include analysis of the ration as well as identifying any shortfalls in minerals and trace elements based on the health and performance in the herd or flock.

In addition, fertility and reproductive management makes up a large proportion of a farm vet’s work. The economic return of livestock is dependent on reproductive rates and vets help farms to manage animal fertility through monitoring the health of breeding animals, planning of the timing of reproduction, advising on breed selection and pregnancy scanning.

Alongside these roles, vets also provide a range of services which allow farmers to make positive decisions about their businesses. This includes the provision of up-to-date advice on government grant schemes, such as the most recently introduced Annual Health & Welfare Pathway (AHWP). Vet practices also offer access to training courses on animal husbandry tasks including artificial insemination (AI), foot-trimming, lambing and responsible use of medicines which develop individual skills but also bring farmers together and contribute to the rural community.

As a result of these services, the emphasis in modern veterinary practice has clearly shifted away from solely providing emergency care for sick animals. It now aims to support the people and businesses dependent on livestock throughout the farming year rather than exclusively in times of difficulty.