The Farmers Mart Jun-Jul 2019 - Issue 63 | Page 10

10 FARM NEWS JUN/JUL 2019 • farmers-mart.co.uk 75 YEARS OF INDEPENDENT VETERINARY CARE IN YORKSHIRE BISHOPTON Vets are celebrat- ing our 75th anniversary this year, something which the whole prac- tice is extremely proud of, and have a variety of events planned throughout the year to mark the occasion! The original practice was founded by Ronald Wood in 1944 and was located at Caxton Lodge in Ripon. The practice moved to its current premises at Mill Farm in 1993 from where the small animal, farm animal, pig and equine vet teams now operate. There are currently 7 partners who are passionate about the future of the practice as an independently owned business. Although entirely independently owned by those 7 partners, Bish- opton is part of an association of like-minded independent veteri- nary practices in the UK ‘XL Vets’ which supports cost-effective buying and supports ‘excellence in practice’. Although much has changed in 75 years, the emphasis on proactive preventative health planning and innovative thinking have been consistent themes at Bishopton. Since early 2000s the vets at Bishopton have specialised in their area of interest in order to be at the forefront of preventative health care of the animals on our farms. We currently have 15 vets specialising in ruminants and 4 vets specialising in pigs, who are always looking to be at the cutting edge and improving themselves through further qualifications. Vets are heavily involved in the farming industry and veterinary commu- nity and current members of the clinical team have held positions of President on the British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA) boards and Pig Veterinary Society (PVS) boards as well as previous partner Neil Spedding holding the presidency of the Sheep Veteri- nary Society. Through our team of experi- enced and dedicated vets we aim to provide a first class service to our farm clients, responding to day to day emergencies/ fire bri- gade work, but keeping preventa- tive health work a high priority too. Much of our daily workload is preventative medicine and proactive herd and flock health work, supporting the smooth and sustainable running of the farm business. To deliver high level herd and flock health Bishopton runs herd and flock health schemes, so that this important work remains a priority for both our farmers and vets even in busy times of the year. Time is put aside to measure performance, review the data and then make any changes to the sys- tem that may be required. A key part of the herd and flock health work is the relationships that are built between the farm and their specific vets, who are responsible for the health and performance of the stock on the farm. Bishopton has always been heavily involved with farmer education and training, being one of the first practices in the area to regularly deliver Foot trim- ming and Do It Yourself Artificial Insemination (DIY AI) of cattle. This side of the business has continued to develop and is now run through Bishopton’s sister company ‘RAFT Solutions’, who deliver courses on a wide variety of subjects for dairy, beef and sheep farmers. Bishopton run a busy schedule of farmer discus- sion groups to keep clients up to date with the latest information and research, often bringing national and international experts in their field to speak. Another approach to this has been taking farmers on study trips to farms locally but also abroad, including a trip to Wisconsin in the United States where a number of clients, including John and Sally Banks from Wildon Grange and Colin Ni- cholson from Castiles, benefited from seeing some excellent dairy units and implementing the ideas on their own units when they returned home. In the case of Colin and Sean Nicholson this trip was part of their decision process of returning to a block calving pasture-based system and not the intensive systems seen in Wisconsin. As well as delivering vet and farmer training, RAFT solutions provide advanced cattle breed- ing services, including Embryo Transfer (ET) and Ovum Pick up In Vitro Fertilisation (OPU/IVF), which are effective ways for Ped- igree farms to increase the rate of genetic progress in the herd, by producing more offspring from the best animals. This is an approach that has been taken by the Knox family of the Mill Close Aberdeen angus herd. RAFT also has a cutting-edge laboratory ana- lysing bull and Boar semen using the industry leading ‘SemenRate’ analysis approach and receiving samples for expert analysis from all over the UK and internation- ally linked with other experts. Research is another key area that RAFT are heavily involved with, specialising in close to market research utilising a network of farms that has been established in North Yorkshire. Current pro- jects include the use of rumen temperature boluses to monitor health, reproductive and calving events as well as UK leading work supporting breeding for future ‘Resilient and Efficient’ animals in response to climate change in the ‘GenTORE’ project. In a time of intense change in society and agri-food, Bishopton & RAFT are committed to supporting our clients in adapting to sustainable farming and reminding consum- ers of the importance of quality food produced safely and to high welfare standards. Bishopton has its main prem- ises at Mill Farm in Ripon, small animal branch surgeries and farmer medicine dispensaries in Northallerton, Pateley Bridge and Easingwold along with a farm an- imal office at York. Our excellent facilities are only bettered by the outstanding people that work in our practice; from the veterinary team to dispensers, nurses, techs and client care. The celebrations of 75 years began with a Diamond anniver- sary ball in December. There are further events upcoming including an open day at the Ripon surgery in June, a 75 mile charity bike ride, a charity clay shoot and BBQ and culminating in a charity dinner and auction of promises in October. Independent veteri- nary practice has a long history in North Yorkshire, with the heritage of James Herriot. Bishopton is proud to continue that inde- pendent tradition and is adapting to remain at the cutting edge of modern veterinary science, with- out forgetting our local roots and the farming families and quality livestock that have got us to where we are today.