Meet our Experts - Ryan Davies

Ryan Davies is part of our network of experts, read on to find out a little more about his work.

Based and raised in Pembrokeshire, West Wales, Ryan 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 Ryan started his own Veterinary consulting company in 2023 to pursue his 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 Ryan has a contract with a world leading producer of whole bovine colostrum, for whom he provides technical consultation services. He has 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), demonstrating improvements in health and weight gain. These findings will be presented at the World Buiatrics Congress in Mexico 2024.

Ryan continues his project on the spring batch calving unit and has been awarded a Welsh government grant to investigate the relationship between antibiotic usage and TPI (transfer of passive immunity) in calves. This grant is awarded for industry initiatives aimed at increasing sustainability and animal welfare, and also reducing the use of antibiotics in food animals. Ryan will be working with The University of Edinburgh and The University of Guelph (Canada) using Radial Immunodiffusion testing to assess TPI status in 180-200 replacement dairy calves, and 50-60 Wagyu beef from dairy calves.

Ryan also provides 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). Courses are available via the Veterinary Technical Consulting website.

Ryan is included in the Welsh Government’s Farming Connect Advisory Service. A government funded consultation service for farmers requiring technical expertise to improve health and welfare of their animals. You can find more information here.

In his spare time Ryan likes to surf and explore the beaches of the beautiful Welsh coastline.

If you have a project that you feel the VetSalus network of experts would be able to assist on please contact us here.

To keep up to date with our work please follow our social media channels, Twitter and LinkedIn, finally make sure you sign up to our newsletter - here.