Speakers

Professor Barrett’s main areas of interest are production ruminant health and disease, bovine mastitis / milk quality, bovine respiratory disease and veterinary education. In addition to these numerous other clinical/research areas are of interest to him including; bovine reproduction, bovine lameness, biosecurity and herd health planning, bovine tuberculosis, displaced abomasum, impact of animal production methods on food safety, responsible use of medicines and a number of other specific clinical entities. He currently supervises the training of six postgraduate European clinical residents and co-supervises a PhD student undertaking a project entitled, Carriage of Bacterial Pathogens in the Bovine Upper Respiratory Tract: Effects of Respiratory Virus Vaccination. He is a former editor of the journal Cattle Practice, and a current member of the editorial boards of The Veterinary Journal and Livestock.

Ellie graduated from Cambridge in 2006 and worked in mixed practice, first in Lancashire and then in Huddersfield. After a spell as a small animal locum she returned to Cambridge University, this time as a member of staff, teaching farm animal clinical skills to final year vet students. Ellie joined Howells in January 2016 and, alongside clinical work, she is responsible for delivering cattle and sheep training including client evenings and practical teaching such as lambing courses. Ellie’s particular interests are calf rearing and cattle infectious disease and she has completed four of six modules towards her Advanced Certificate in Cattle Medicine.

Fiona is a Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Recognised Specialist in Sheep Health and Production and a diplomate of the European College of Small Ruminant Health Management. She holds the part time position of Clinical Associate Professor in sheep production medicine at the University of Nottingham. Fiona Lovatt graduated from Bristol University in 1995 and worked in first opinion mixed veterinary practice in Barnard Castle, County Durham until 2012. For her first four years in practice, Fiona worked in all veterinary disciplines but particularly with sheep, goats and cattle from 1999. In 2008 she was awarded a PhD from the University of Durham in the conservation genetics of South Georgia reindeer, having worked on this on a part-time basis alongside being a practising farm vet. As a consultant sheep veterinarian for Evidence Based Veterinary Consultancy Ltd (EBVC), Fiona works with members of the Sainsbury’s lamb supply chain. Fiona is a recent past president of the Sheep Veterinary Society (SVS) and continues to represent sheep veterinarians at all levels of the sheep industry. She is currently working as a representative of SVS on the RUMA Target Task Force and coordinating development of Sheep Veterinary Society Good Practice Guidelines with respect to the responsible use of antibiotics.

Fiona has over 20 years’ experience working in veterinary and animal health, in both marketing and technical roles with leading global pharmaceutical companies. In addition to providing consultancy services, she is currently studying for a Master of Research degree with the University of Nottingham, looking at nonverbal communication between vet and farmer.

John started learning the ropes about pigs at the age of 11. He qualified as a veterinarian in 1982. After 5 years in general practice he returned to university to complete a Leverhulme residency in pigs and the PhD in urinary tract problems of pigs at Liverpool specialising in microbiology and pathology. He has a Diploma in Pig Medicine and is a Diplomate of the European College of Pig Health Management. His is recognised by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons as a pig specialist. He has taught production medicine at several universities: UK; Liverpool and Royal Veterinary College, London, US; North Carolina and Iowa State and at Murdoch and Townsville Universities Australia. John runs a consultancy practice with clients in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa. He currently teaches at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia. John specialises in maintaining the health of pigs through promoting excellence in stockmanship and production practices.

James qualified as a veterinary surgeon from the University of Bristol in 1998 and after a short spell locuming, joined Prof. Martin Green at the Orchard Veterinary Group, Glastonbury, working with companion and farm animals as a veterinary assistant. He returned to Langford in 2001 to take up a residency in Farm Animal Medicine under the tutelage of Mr Islwyn Thomas FRCVS, developing his interests in dairy cow medicine and surgery as well as teaching veterinary undergraduate students. He later joined Dr Andrew Bradley and Prof Green on a national dairy cow mastitis research project and was involved in the development of the current national DairyCo mastitis control initiative. He subsequently completed a three-year RCVS Trust residency in Production Animal Medicine, dividing his time between dairy practice, teaching, consultancy and research. He currently works as a Lecturer at the Nottingham Veterinary School, a farm animal veterinary surgeon in practice and a clinical associate at a commercial laboratory that provides milk recording services and mastitis consultancy in Somerset. He holds the RCVS Certificate in Cattle Health and Production (2003) and the RCVS Diploma in Cattle Health and Production (2008) and was awarded a PhD for studies into cow risk factors for clinical mastitis and increased somatic cell count. He is an RCVS-recognised Specialist in Cattle Health and Production.

James Patrick Crilly graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2010. He worked in mixed practice in the Scottish Highlands before completing a three-year residency in Farm Animal Health & Production at the University of Edinburgh. He has worked in first opinion farm animal practice at Larkmead Veterinary Group in Oxfordshire since January 2017. From September this year he has combined this with the role of lecturer in small ruminant health and flock management at the RVC. He is a member of the European College of Small Ruminant Health Management, the Sheep Veterinary Society and the Goat Veterinary Society.

Carolyne worked as an equine vet for 11 years, before becoming a personal performance coach, mentor, international speaker an accredited trainer in DISC behavioural profiling, CPCAB trainer in Stress management and Wellbeing, Honorary Lecturer of Liverpool University and is currently undertaking a Masters degree in Workplace Health and Wellbeing at Nottingham University Medical School. She received the prestigious title of “Life Coach of the Year 2015” at the International Coaching Awards.

Theeb has a passion for the dairy industry. Being a farm vet, he enjoys working with British dairy farmers in improving health, welfare and production of their dairy cows around the UK. His roles have varied from clinical practice, education, pharmaceuticals and now consultancy. He is dedicated in working to support the sector in helping attract people from non-traditional backgrounds into this industry. This has included being a trustee of St Werburghs City Farm, a trustee of The Country Trust and on the ADHB Careers and Recruitment Sub-Group. Navaratnam is co-founder of British Veterinary Ethnicity and Diversity Society (BVEDS) and a founding BiPOC Working Group member at the Land Workers Alliance (LWA). He was recently awarded being an Oxford Farming Emerging Leader 2020 in his work on improving diversity and is part of a research team who have just been awarded a Sarah Brown Mental Health Research Grant to look at experiences of racism in the veterinary profession.

Jude L. Capper, PhD ARAgS is an independent Livestock Sustainability Consultant based in Oxfordshire, UK, who undertook her BSc (Agriculture with Animal Science) and PhD (Ruminant Nutrition and Behaviour) at Harper Adams University College (UK), followed by post-doctoral research at Cornell University (USA) and a faculty position at Washington State University (USA). Jude's research focuses on modelling the sustainability of livestock production systems, specifically dairy and beef, including quantifying changes made by improving productivity or adopting differing management practices. She is also currently working on projects relating to the impacts of medicines use on UK beef farms and the national and global impacts of livestock health and welfare on system sustainability. In addition to her research, Jude is the Chair of the Route Panel for Agriculture, Environment and Animal Care for the Institute of Apprenticeships and Technical Education; and is on the board of the National Beef Association. Jude's research focuses on modelling the sustainability of livestock production systems, specifically dairy and beef, including quantifying changes made by improving productivity or adopting differing management practices. She is also currently working on projects relating to the impacts of medicines use on UK beef farms and the national and global impacts of livestock health and welfare on system sustainability.

Tim graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in 2003 and then went on to complete a farm animal residency. On completion of his residency he undertook a PhD, examining the use of antimicrobials in the treatment of calf pneumonia. Having completed his PhD, Tim joined Westpoint with a focus on youngstock health management and currently provides advice to calf rearing units across the UK. Tim is currently Senior Clinical Director of Westpoint Farm Vets and Kingshay. In 2011 Tim was part of the group which created the National Youngstock Association to help promote best practice in calf rearing.

James has been a practising Vet since graduating in 2002 from RVC. In 2005 he undertook a post graduate diploma in Production Animal and Livestock medicine from the RVC. His interest in biosecurity has developed with his observation of FMDV in 2001 and subsequent bluetongue incursions, as well as his work on bTB. This began with a lecture tour of the Midlands in 2008 discussing aspects of TB biosecurity and has developed during the time James is was the BCVA representative for matters surrounding bTB. He sat on the defra body TB Eradication Advisory Group (TBEAG), as well as being a board member for CHeCS. Prior to Covid, this understanding was put into practice daily as he works for the TB Advisory Service (TBAS) making bespoke recommendations on farm to reduce the risk of TB. As BVA president, James is overseeing the roll out of the BVA TB strategy document released in summer 2020.

Owen has experience of the dairy industry worldwide, having worked, lectured or studied in UK, NZ, USA, Europe, Iran, India and Africa. What makes Owen stand out is his enthusiasm and depth of knowledge of the dairy cow, coupled with his talent for communicating complex subjects in an accessible way.

Laura graduated as a vet from the Royal Veterinary College in 2009, she then went to the University of Nottingham to complete a PhD on gut dysfunction in the young pig. After being awarded her PhD Laura worked at a specialised pig practice in the South West of England for 3 years before joining Zoetis in 2016 as the National Veterinary Manager for pigs.

After graduating in 1995 Kath worked in cattle practice for 20 years, in Somerset, New Zealand and Cumbria, gaining a Certificate in Cattle Health and Production in 2002. In 2015 Kath joined Boehringer as a ruminant veterinary adviser and now provides technical support for the Boehringer ruminant range of medicines, with particular responsibility for the therapeutic range. Areas of interest include mastitis, infectious disease and communications, with an overall aspiration to improve health and wellbeing in agriculture.

Sioned qualified as a vet in 2007 from Liverpool University, where she also completed an MSc in veterinary Infectious disease. Following this she spent 5 years in large animal practice in West Wales, and subsequent to this has worked in the animal health industry. She is currently ruminal technical services manager at Boehringer Ingelheim.

Mark qualified from Cambridge University in 1986 and has worked in rural mixed practice ever since. He holds a Diploma in Bovine Reproduction from Liverpool University. Mark leads the pig team and has been instrumental in developing our major agricultural supplies outlet. He is very proud of the whole team at the practice and the positive feedback which we regularly receive from our clients.

Ellen Schmitt DVM PhD Dipl ECBHM ECAR is a bovine field practitioner. Her main objective is to deliver tailor-made services that add value to the daily life of farmers and their production animals. To contribute to the improvement of the dairy industry, Ellen thrives transforming the latest knowledge into applicable procedures in the field. Partly by training of veterinarians, farmers and technicians, but mostly by being on farm collaborating with farmers. Ellen has a specific interest in herd diseases, cow comfort, youngstock raising and milk quality, both in conventional and in automated milking systems.

Kat Baxter-Smith is the Sector Veterinary Adviser for Beef and Sheep at MSD Animal Health. She has worked at MSD for three years and previously worked in veterinary practice in the UK for 7 years since graduating from the Royal Veterinary College in 2010. She is particularly interested in youngstock and respiratory health, and has a Certificate of Advanced Veterinary Practice in Internal Medicine.

Abi Reader is a 3rd generation dairy farmer milking 200 cows all year round just outside Cardiff, Wales. The farm has an ambition both better antibiotic usage and to reduce carbon footprint through teamwork, improved management, use of technology and various trials and pilots. The farm generally hosts between 8-12 school and placement students every year. Off farm Abi is involved in a number of groups an organisations including Chair of NFU Cymru Dairy Board and Chair of CHeCS (Cattle Health Certification Standards). She is a proud farmer host of Open Farm Sunday and co founder of CowsOnTour, a voluntary group of farming industry individuals who go into schools to Tell the Farming Story.

Colin Mason works as vet for Scotland’s Rural College based in Dumfries. His work includes disease surveillance and investigation work for farm animals. Through the course of his work dairy calf health has been a particular focus as it is one of the common issues in the area and through that time Mycoplasma bovis associated disease has been a particular interest and concern in equal measure! Of late Colin has been involved with research work looking at early detection of disease in milk fed dairy calves and also a Mycoplasma bovis prevalence study in Scotland and it is hoped that this work informs progress in calf health disease management and prevention.

Dr Tom Barragry is a qualified veterinary surgeon and veterinary pharmacologist. A retired professor in veterinary pharmacology and therapeutics with over 40 years’ experience of lecturing pharmacology & therapeutics to university undergraduate students. He has also been an external examiner in some European vet schools and an external examiner to PhD students in Utrecht, one of Europe’s leading veterinary schools. He holds a master’s degree and PhD in veterinary pharmacology and was one of the first veterinarians to be awarded a European specialist and diplomate qualification in veterinary pharmacology has been He is the author of the well-known veterinary textbook “Veterinary Drug Therapy”. This was a sole authored text of 1100 pages written in Philadelphia and published by Williams & Wilkins in Washington & Maryland. The book received very favourable reviews and was placed as recommended reading in many US universities of veterinary medicine and also on many European vet colleges syllabuses. It is currently held in the Library of Congress. He has written well over a hundred papers and articles in veterinary journals and in the veterinary press and has been a peer reviewer for a number of well-known international veterinary journals. He was a former member of regulatory agencies such as the Irish Medicines Board and the CVMP (Residues working group) in Brussels, as well as being co-opted onto other expert EU committees. Dr Barragry has commercial experience with many domestic and global pharmaceutical companies primarily working on drug evaluation, clinical trials, registration, marketing, sales force training, product development and market expansion. Currently consulting for Provita Animal Health.

George Shaw MPharm MPSNI has studied a PhD in Pharmaceutical Microbiology at Queen’s University Belfast where he also gained a Master of Pharmacy. His PhD was focused on the synthesis of novel peptide inhibitors to attenuate biofilm formation in clinically significant bacteria. George is a named author in various published papers in agri-science journals and conference proceedings. George also holds a Level II Certificate in Agricultural Business Operations from the College of Agriculture Food & Rural Enterprise. George joined Provita Animal Health in 2016 as Technical Adviser. The role involves extensive travel around the globe supporting and training Provita’s network of distributors as well providing technical on-farm support to farmers. George and his father farm on the outskirts of Castlewellan in County Down. The operation involves rearing approx. 100 dairy bred calves per year through to finishing or store ages, with a major focus on preventative health practices and weight gain from forage, to maximise productivity and profitability

Farmer’s son and farm vet, George Brownlee is the founder and CEO of Farmvet Systems Ltd where the VetIMPRESS platform is developed. As a progressive farm vet, George took his passion for farm animal health and the future of food from animals and used it to create a secure data management platform that connects fragmented animal data across the industry. VetIMPRESS is committed to strengthening the role of veterinary practitioners in protecting animal health, animal welfare, human health and the sustainability of the world’s resources by creating the records needed to inform decisions for vets and their breeders using standardised, permissioned, secure veterinary data.

Rachel qualified as a vet in 1993 and worked in farm animal practice in Lancashire and Dorset, gaining a Certificate in Cattle Health and Production. She is a shareholder at Synergy Farm Health, a farm only practice in the south west which employs 40 vets and 15 vet techs. Rachel provides fertility and health planning services for her routine clients and jointly provides a specialist mastitis service within the practice. She teaches on the farm animal core module for the Royal Veterinary College and provides farmer training meetings, mostly on the topics of mastitis, responsible use of antibiotics and infectious disease. She also manages the practice’s research activities. She is a director of the British Cattle Veterinary Association and also sits on the AHDB Dairy Mastitis Control Plan Management Group.

Seb Richardson and his father James farm 800ha of mixed farming land near Oundle, North Northamptonshire. The arable operation includes owned, tenanted and contract land with crops including wheat, barley, beans and naked oats. They run 100 commercial beef cows running the followers from birth to slaughter on farm and 400 North Country Mule ewes. The farm is in the HLS stewardship scheme and a big focus for the farm's future is to farm in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way.

Matt is a vet with experience in practice in the UK, India and NZ. Since being at BIAH, he has covered both technical and marketing roles, also undertaking a MSc in International Animal Health, with emphasis on BVD, a Diploma in Professional Marketing and is currently studying for an MBA.