International veterinarians working together

I am a veterinary consultant focusing on genetics, fertility and sustainability. I work with the whole dairy supply chain from farmers to milk processors, project managing and delivering change management programs to dairy farmers. I have 20 years experience working with farmers; formerly a farm vet working in clinical practice. I am a board member of BCVA (British Cattle Veterinary Association) which helps me to stay in touch with the next generation of farm vets and also representing vets who have diversified out of practice.

I am passionate about the role farmers have in providing safe, sustainable, nutritious food for the ever growing world population.

Kevin Crews is a Massey University 1983 veterinary graduate and is Managing Director for CTSL, a New Zealand registered company that specialises in disease and pest management strategic and operational design, One Health systems, operational epidemiology, quality assurance, monitoring and audit, and training. He has worked in the areas of preventative medicine, industry disease control and quality assurance for nearly 40 years, in both the public and private sectors.
He is a member of the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists by examination in epidemiology and is a foundation member of the College’s Veterinary Public Health (VPH) Chapter. He is a member of the Subject Standards Committee of the VPH Chapter; a role that includes supervision and mentorship of VPH exam candidates.
Kevin co-chairs the One Heath Aotearoa (OHA) Symposium Organising Committee. OHA is an alliance that brings together experts in academic research and operational science from the fields of animal, human and environmental health.
Kevin is a member of the New Zealand Veterinary Association’s Epidemiology, Food Safety, Animal Welfare and Biosecurity (E-FAB) Special Interest Branch, having previously served on the executive committee of the branch (and its predecessors) for 15 years, four of these as President. Kevin is also a member of New Zealand Veterinary Association’s Sheep & Beef Cattle Society.
Kevin has delivered papers on NZ’s successful bovine tuberculosis (TB) strategy at multiple international conferences throughout the past 25 years, as well as being author/co-author of several published papers on bovine TB.

Lewis graduated from Glasgow University in 1978. Business management in a veterinary environment has always been a passion of Lewis’s. Having emigrated from Wales to New Zealand in 1990, he soon formed Riverside
Veterinary Services in Ashburton and supervised the rapid growth of this practice into one of the largest in New Zealand at the time. Lewis was awarded an MBA from Canterbury
University in 2005. He has been a member of the board of the New Zealand Veterinary
Association and served two terms as President.
More recently Lewis has provided strategic planning, valuation and succession planning
services to veterinary practices and has served as chairman/director on a number of
veterinary boards, including VetSouth Ltd and Synergy Farm Health Ltd.
He currently spends part of each year in the UK where he works as a project manager.

I have an interest in improving the sustainability of farming practices in UK. As a practising farm vet and director in a mixed practice for the last 16 years I have acquired the communication skills and experience to work with farmers and other stakeholders to discuss sustainability issues on cattle & sheep farms (and a few goat herds). Prior to becoming a director I worked as a lecturer of ruminant health, production and welfare at the University of Liverpool. I was involved in (and received training in the delivery of) large group lectures and small group teaching along with practical workshops. I have always had an passion for investment in our environment, animal health and welfare and the well-being of students, clients and now my staff. The practice is currently a silver award holder in the Investors in Environment scheme (just about to be audited for Green standard). I really enjoy writing articles and delivering educational talks to farmers, schools and the general public encouraging sustainability considerations including welfare and production, biodiversity, responsible antimicrobial use and food provenance. I chair a Flock Health Club with around 20 sheep farmer members with the aim to disseminate knowledge and experiences in improving flock heath and sustainability. My colleagues and I also run 'Ignite Agri-forum' and 'Chewing the Cud' discussion group directly aiming to target young (post YFC) farmers and farmers' managing farms respectively to consider ways of working, diversification and sustainability issues. Since completing the course A Veterinary Approach to Sustainable Food and Farming course I am keen to gain more experience and be more involved in working towards a more sustainable future.

Having worked as a first opinion production animal vet for 17 years, I decided to move my career towards a more proactive role: consulting on improving the efficiency and thereby the sustainability of livestock. My particular area of interest is in beef animals as I believe there huge gains to be made in this industry when it comes to assessing carbon output and maximising productivity.

UK farming needs all the help it can get at the moment and I want to support farmers for us all to be here in 20 years time.

Since qualifying as a veterinary surgeon in 2019, I have worked in a large dairy practice where principles of evidence based veterinary medicine, education, and sustainability for both the practice and the agricultural industry we serve have underpinned my work. In July 2022, I started a residency programme with the Royal Veterinary College, alongside my clinical work, to study for the Masters In Veterinary Medicine and to become a Diplomat of the European College of Bovine Health Management, which I am due to finish later this year.

As part of my residency programme I have been actively involved in research, with publications on computer vision and a current project investigating the effects of sedation on outcomes after calf disbudding. I also dedicate a substantial amount of my time to teaching veterinary students in both practical and classroom sessions.

My current clinical work is predominantly dairy based, working with a wide variety of herds that range from 40 to over 2,000 milking cows. I strive to stay up to date with recent published literature on cattle health and production and where relevant apply it to improve the health and performance of the herds I work with. This has led to developing a few key areas of interest for me including the monitoring of transition cow success and subclinical hypocalcaemia, as well as implementation of new diagnostic techniques to improve calf health and lifetime production, such as the utilisation of quick thoracic ultrasound.

I am President of the Union of European Veterinary Hygienists and have spent 30 years working in the field of food controls - I share the same ambitions and objectives of VetSalus

Dr. Thadaeus Labong is a practicing Veterinarian in Jos, Plateau State of Nigeria.

He graduated from University of Agriculture, Makurdi (UAM) renamed Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi.

He's a passionate public health scientist who's major concern is food security. He worked to ensure quality wholesome milk is produced and consumed by the public.

As a lecturer with the College of Agriculture Garkawa Nigeria, He mentored students in the field large animal medicine.

Ben qualified in 2014 from the Royal Veterinary College, London and joined the Farm Animal Production internship at Synergy Farm Health based in Dorset, UK. He has remained at Synergy ever since, though has taken the opportunity to see veterinary practice in the Netherlands and New Zealand as part of a sabbatical. Ben is the main health advisor for one of the UK’s largest beef integration chains, focusing on their calf rearing enterprise which sources milk-fed calves from multiple dairies. He completed a Masters in Veterinary Epidemiology in 2021, and uses these skills to interpret large calf performance datasets and conduct studies on a beef calf-rearing trial farm that is under his care.

I have been a practising veterinarian in Denmark since 2011. My primary work in practice has been as a herd veterinarian in dairy farms with a focus on health and nutrition of calves and young stock, reproduction, health and nutrition of transition cows, animal welfare, udder health, disease control and prevention, treatment and vaccination protocols. In 2013 I became a partner in the practice. In 2015 I became DVA certified in Herd Health management, disease and reproduction.

I have been a farm animal vet for nearly 30 years and have been working in a beef and sheep practice in the South of England for the past 8 years. I am passionate about herd and flock health and work with my clients to build a holistic approach to farm management, integrating robust health planning and proactive flock and herd management as well as extensive client training. I have worked as an educator for AHDB and am currently teaching vet students at Surrey University Vet School alongside my role in practice. Communication and behaviour change is a particular area of interest and I believe in solutions focused approaches to real world challenges.

Completing the Vet Sustain 'Veterinary Approach to Sustainable Food and Farming' has opened my eyes to just how many areas we are able to make a difference in as veterinary surgeons. This is in part to clients and in part to colleagues and the veterinary and farming communities as a whole. Having completed my second term on BCVA and now with an 18 month old at home I would like to be involved in an organisation that will allow me to continue to challenge myself, learn and share knowledge with like minded individuals and those that have an interest in becoming more sustainable. We completed an MSD research bursary looking at calf health in 2022 and have had two RVC residents at the practice which has given a taste into collating and researching evidence within the practice that can be used to further fuel sustainable practices.

I am the Department head for CowsmartTM; a Consultancy and Reporting business unit within Vetlife Ltd., specializing in automated animal health technologies.

I am responsible for services related to dairy cattle sensors and their relevance to animal health, reproduction, nutrition and productivity. My work is part of an ongoing initiative ensuring the continued evolvement of our veterinary services, which now includes modern monitoring technologies and their relevance to the veterinary profession.

I received my Bachelor’s and DVM degrees from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, graduating in 2014. I completed the Australasian National Veterinary Examination in 2017 and am registered with the VCNZ, currently practicing in New Zealand.

I am a curious, committed, and particular person. In my career, I have always been driven by an ambition to continue improving my knowledge and to provide science-based advice of the highest standard. I have an analytical mindset, a scientific interest and advanced interpersonal skills and I enjoy utilizing each of these in my professional life. Privately, I own and operate a dairy farm with my husband, milking 730 cows.

I am a standing member of the International Dairy Federation Committee for Animal Health and Welfare and I am currently part of several Action Teams investigating topics including heat stress in dairy cattle, reproductive technologies in dairy cattle and sensor use in dairy cattle.
My education covers several dairy production systems found around the world and as a current member of international interest groups. I expect to find more avenues for growth and building my international connections as part of this journey.

Based and raised in Pembrokeshire, West Wales, I attended The University of Edinburgh and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Veterinary Medicine and Surgery in 2002. Having worked over 20 years in farm animal clinical practice I started my own Veterinary consulting company in 2023 to pursue my passion in preventative animal healthcare. The company targets proactive health planning on farms to decrease morbidity and mortality and reduce the requirement for administration of antibiotics, while maximising animal welfare and productivity. At present I have a contract with a world leading producer of whole bovine colostrum, for whom I provide technical consultation services. I have conducted an on farm study investigating the supplementation of passive transfer of calves and provision of enriched pasteurised transition milk to a spring calving, pasture based batch calving production unit. The results showed a dramatic decrease in the use of antibiotics (mainly HP-CIA's), improvements in health and weight gain. I will present these findings at the World Buiatrics Congress in Mexico 2024. I also provide consultation services using data analysis software (Dairycomp Consultant) to analyse fertility on farms and increase submission rates by good management, nutrition strategies and disease control to reduce the need for hormonal intervention. The company goal regarding fertility is to reduce the average days in milk of a herd by natural (pasture based), sustainable methods to reduce the number of cows required to produce the same volume of milk, thereby improving sustainability. The company has courses certified by Lantra Awards to educate animal health professionals in health and management procedures - Selective Dry Cow Therapy, Calving Cow Management and Johne's disease control (currently awaiting certification). In my spare time I like to surf and explore the beaches of the beautiful Welsh coastline.

Following 11 years of clinical practice in the UK, I spent 3 and 1/2 years as a senior lecturer in cattle health and production in New Zealand. For the last 6 and 1/2 years I have worked as a dairy nutritionist for the Evidence Group in the UK, prior to commencing work with Advanced Ruminant Nutrition in Jan 2021. I have undertaken study visits to the USA and mainland Europe. I have a strong record of collaborative research and publication as well as having spoken at both national and international conferences. As well as undertaking train the trainer I have experience of both lecturing and small group practical training, including ongoing teaching roles at Massey University and Glasgow University. I am currently undertaking a PhD with University of Liverpool studying protein metabolism in transition dairy cows.
Alongside strong clinical practice experience I have extensive experience of nutrition and feeding management in both extensive and highly intensive dairy systems, working with farmers to optimise health, fertility, production and profitability. I am skilled in the use of a variety of dairy management software packages, rationing systems and feeding management software.

Victor Oudhuis qualified as a veterinary surgeon in 1997 from the University of Ghent (Belgium) and has been working as a farm animal practitioner in Luxembourg, Ireland and the UK since then. In 2008 he gained his Diploma in Bovine Reproduction (Msc) and has been providing Veterinary Dairy Consultancy on large dairy units worldwide (most recently in Russia, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan) since 2014. His main interests are data analysis (epidemiology), herd health planning, developing protocols/SOP’s and providing theoretical and practical training to vets and farm staff.

Animation and training of technical teams, firm services, dairies, agricultural machinery, pharmaceutical laboratories in France and abroad
Technical and strategic support for food manufacturers and service firms (France and abroad)
Hosting and training organizations for foreign executives and veterinarians
Technical training for veterinarians, technical staff, sales representatives, breeders in French and English
Monitoring herds dairy production (cattle and goats) and lactating
Breeding audits
Development of livestock breeding plans
Management consulting collective pathology
Optimization of production and management of breeding (reproduction, feeding and quality of milk)
Expertise robotic treats and milking

I graduated from University of Copenhagen in 2007. In my professional career I have been working both within research and clinical practice and currently I work as a dairy herd health consultant. My focus is utilizing new knowledge and data to improve the health and production of the farm – with benefit of the farmer and the animals. My main interests are herd health management, mastitis and pharmacology.
I believe that the ability to adapt and change our ways of working/producing, is the only way that livestock production can be part of the future. I hope that through collaboration with farmers, I can assist in this adaption to the future demands.

Experienced farm vet of 12 years, primarily working in herd health management. I have worked as self-employed for 8 out of 12 years.
I am very engaged in communication and mediation of knowledge to farmers, farm staff and vet students. As a person I am organized, professional, likeable and good at communicating with a lot of different people. I have a high degree of professional competence and continue to expand my knowledge through courses, self-study (articles and professional material) and working. Besides my work in practice I have been involved with different projects, including an Arla-project on mortality (ultimo 2023), writing articles and producing relevant educational content for farmers for social media.
I see myself as a competent consultant with my experience in practice combined with my eager to learn and my skills in mediating educational / professional content. These skills provide me with the ability to communicate on different levels of knowledge and make professional content easy for everyone to understand, regardless of their background in education. My personality allows me to come across as both likeable, smiling and professional at the same time.
Professionally I am interested in herd health management; giving advice using the available data on farm, calves/youngstock, reproduction and feeding. I consider myself professionally competent in all the relevant areas of dairy farming, with a special interest in the aforementioned. Besides that I have taken extra courses in calves/youngstock, reproduction, 'fagdyrlæge (see earlier)' and I am currently attending an advanced course in udder health.

I Graduated from Copenhagen University in March 2019 and started working in a cattle practice. Today I am partner in the practice, specialized in dairy herds and herd health. In my everyday I do practical veterinary work on the farms and even more herd health consultant work. I have completed education in dairy nutrition.
My main focus is nutrition and management in all groups, calves, heifer, dry cows and lactating cows. I value having a close relationship with the farmers, in order to optimize the production results and searching for the best course of actions. Always with the cow health and welfare in focus. We have a lot of data on cows, in our database, and I really like to use them, to solve problems and finding new opportunities.
I am looking forward to being a part of the agriculture in the future, with sustainability in focus.

Robert graduated as a veterinarian from the University of Nottingham and after a period in clinical farm animal practice returned to complete a residency in bovine health management and become an RCVS recognised specialist in cattle health and production.
With a research background in antimicrobial usage and resistance in agriculture, Robert is currently involved in youngstock research at the University of Nottingham to improve health and welfare in calves. Robert is particularly interested in the use of machine learning techniques to identify and prevent population level disease in cattle.

As a dual-qualified vet and rural surveyor with 25 years of large animal experience plus the privilege of having managed a 12,000 acre private rural estate with six farms on a UNESCO World Heritage Site, plus three properties for the National Trust in a National Park, I have had a uniquely wide grounding in conservation. Since 2015 I have run an international mixed-discipline consultancy covering veterinary research into biomechanics coupled with compliance, biosecurity (bTB and general) and animal welfare audits for farms, and rural development services. I have myself farmed sheep and cattle, and am currently converting my second farm to organic status based on building soil health and am a great advocate of genuine regenerative farming in all its guises. I am an independent member of the National Trust Livestock Advisory Group and a Trustee of Glastonbury Abbey.

Graduated Sydney University Veterinary School 1974. 1975 to 1982 Mixed rural clinical practice Cooma NSW (Australia)
1983 to 1993 veterinarian with the Australian Commonwealth government Department of Primary Industries (Canberra) - animal health and welfare, veterinary public health and market access. 1993 to the present, New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries, various operational management roles in the South island leading teams of up to 50 veterinarians. Currently manage the MPI Verification Services animal welfare programme oversighting the work of 200 veterinarians on animal welfare issues. Closely involved in developing legislation as well as the practical implementation of animal welfare standards within New Zealand predominantly for livestock. Work closely with livestock industry organisations on implementing animal welfare standards in NZ. Was on the Board of the New Zealand Veterinary Association for over 12 years, President of NZVA 2009/2010/2011. Awarded an Honorary degree from Massey University Veterinary School in 2013. Currently chair the New Zealand Animal Welfare Network Aotearoa (AWNA) on behalf of NZVA. The network brings together over 40 organisations that have an involvement with animals - companion, livestock, wild or feral.
Have recently semi-retired and working 3 days per week for MPI.
I am a very fit 71 year old, am President of the local tennis club and am volunteering at the Christchurch Wildlife Veterinary Hospital. I have a broad interest in the One Health concept and how the veterinary profession can contribute to the wide range of challenges that we face that fit within the One Health umbrella.

Veterinary Medicine degree from the University of Lisbon (2000). Diplomate of the European College of Bovine Health Management (ECBHM, 2008), following a 3-year residency at the University of Glasgow. PhD in Veterinary Sciences, in the field of Microbiology, by the University of Lisbon (2011). Executive Master’s in Management with specialization in Marketing by the University Institute of Lisbon (2010).
Assistant professor at the University of Lisbon, since 2012, lecturing and performing practical classes on farm on Production Animal Clinics, Reproduction and Obstetrics, Microbiology, Immunology, Herd Health. Published 40 papers in international peer-reviewed scientific journals and 6 books/book chapters, generating over 1000 citations on Scopus. Has completed the supervision of 39 Master’s students and one PhD student, Currently supervising 2 PhD students and 2 ECBHM residents.
Managing-partner at a veterinary practice focusing on ruminants, since 2011. Has worked as a consultant on over 30 farms, mostly addressing issues related to milk quality/udder health, calf health, business implementation and expansion, and biosecurity. Has provided extensive training for farm, pharmaceutical and agrochemical companies’ staff, and veterinarians. Has worked as project developer and co-manager for the De-Levie (Israeli livestock trading company) farm, since 2018, which acquired 91.969 lambs in Portugal, in 2022, most exported by vessel to Israel.
Has contributed to knowledge transfer to farmers and veterinarians, through the organization of 25 conferences, including the World Buiatrics Congress in Lisbon. Former president of the Portuguese Buiatrics Association (2014-2017). Founding member and vice-president of the Portuguese Council for Udder Health (2011-2014).