8 BRIAR VETS AUG / SEP 2018 • farmers-mart. co. uk
So, December the 15th 2017 with the agreement of Churchfield, Briar Vets was born and Churchfield ceased their Livestock side. mboothdesign architectural design and building consultants
8 BRIAR VETS AUG / SEP 2018 • farmers-mart. co. uk
All the benefits of a rural practice
On a warm Monday lunchtime, I met up with Neil and Silke Fraser the owners and originators of Briar Vets of Briarcliffe near Penistone. This all new practice has all the benefits of a Rural practice – easy parking, on site vets, personal care and service – fully integrated facilities for animal care and surgery and very close to the Towns of Huddersfield and Barnsley as well as the city of Sheffield.
NEIL is originally from Berkshire just outside Reading. He studied for his veterinary degree at the renowned Glasgow university. Once qualified he started in practise in Newbury then Guildford where he met Silke who had trained as a vet in Berlin.
Back in 1992 Neil was looking for a change and as luck would have it the nearby Churchfield vets based in Barnsley had a director retiring on ill health grounds who just happened to be the livestock specialist.
Suffice to say, Neil whose passion was livestock applied and got the post. With parents from York and Inverness, Neil was no stranger to Yorkshire.
Neil worked and really developed the livestock side of Churchfield’ s business and Silke worked in a small animal practice in Sheffield initially then as their family grew she took a 14 Year break to look after son Patrick and daughters Catriona and Nicola. Catriona is still at home and at university, Patrick and Nicola have grown up and flown the nest. Nicola has followed in the family footsteps and is now a qualified vet working in a mixed practice in Chesterfield.
With the increase in technology and treatments it is getting harder to recruit vets to work in a mixed practice. Equine practice is fast becoming a specific area of practice and Churchfield took on new vets for this role.
Neil’ s desire was to develop a specialist Livestock and small animal practice with Vets who really want to work in these areas.
So, December the 15th 2017 with the agreement of Churchfield, Briar Vets was born and Churchfield ceased their Livestock side. mboothdesign architectural design and building consultants
Good luck and best wishes to all at Briar Vets in their new surgery
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Farmers tend not to like change however for Neil’ s livestock clients it was only a small change, just the name on the bill. Since December things have moved on a pace and Neil and Silke have some 300 clients. The latest development is the soon to be opened small animal clinic. With the assistance of Barnsley Enterprise and an EPIP( East Pennine Innovation Partnership)
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Best wishes to Briar Vets
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LEADER grant, this will provide state of the art care for all small animals and domestic pets with full operating and overnight care facilities. As the clinic has been built behind Neil and Silke’ s bungalow on the site of their old double garage and pig pen it means they can give 24 / 7 care to all the animals as they are just next door and can monitor the clinic from the state-of-the-art CCTV link.
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However what clients like is that they still get that James Herriot feel from the surgery and one to one attention- even a cup of Tea!
Silke will be helping Neil out at the clinic when is working on farm. Neil and Silke’ s expertise are very diverse from Cattle and Sheep to the big growth area of Farm Pets including Micro Pigs, Llamas and Alpaca’ s to name but a few. In fact, they are currently have registered some 63 different species!
Neil has treated everything from a pigs in gardens to large Dairy Herds, and goes as far as Ferrybridge to Sheffield and Bawtry to Holmfirth.
I asked about future plans. Neil was most emphatic that they intend to grow the animal clinic and already have plans at the ready. However, it is most important that customers know the staff and they will know their animals. A personal service will be delivered to Farmers and Pet owners alike.
We wish this committed couple the very best and there will a clinic update in a future issue which will include the grand opening scheduled for October.