Paragon Veterinary Group is a Cumbrian-based veterinary practice with over 80 years experience in caring for animals. The name 'par-a-gon' refers to a model of excellence or perfection, and over the years we have striven to build up our reputation to the highest possible standards in our field. Paragon employs 14 highly experienced and dedicated farm animal vets, as well as vets who are innovators in advanced breeding techniques. 

The group includes one Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons  recognised specialist in cattle health and production as well as two bovine diploma holders and four certificate holders. As well as a full range of advisory, herd health, emergency medicine and surgery, Paragon understakes international consultancy. Our advanced breeding team has established an in-house cattle IVF lab and has several active collaborative research programmes ongoing.

Synergy Farm Health aims to be recognised as the leading UK agricultural veterinary business. Synergy deliver quality clinical services to farmers, but also extend to research, education and consultancy. We believe that the provision of forward thinking and proactive veterinary advice helps maximise animal health and welfare on farms, regardless of their size.

Synergy vets operate in regional teams, working out of their own local base, covering much of Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset and east Devon. Each farming enterprise has a nominated local vet who is the farm’s primary point of contact, allowing us to deliver a high quality and personalised service tailored to that farm’s requirements. All of our vets are highly motivated, have a genuine interest and understanding of UK agriculture and engage regularly in professional development.

Lewis graduated from Glasgow University in 1978 and initially returned to his native west Wales to work in mixed, predominantly dairy practice. Having emigrated from Wales to New Zealand in 1990, he formed Riverside Veterinary Services in Ashburton and supervised the rapid growth of this practice into one of the largest in New Zealand at that time. Lewis was awarded an MBA from Canterbury University in 2005.

In recent years, Lewis has developed a growing interest in climate change and sustainable agriculture and this has led to his role with VetSalus. Lewis is convinced that the veterinary profession has a major contribution to make in the “race to zero”.

VetNZ was formed combining the interests of clinics from throughout rural NZ, with the simple goal of ensuring better veterinary services for our communities. We partner with like minded clinics, servicing the variety of animal health needs of a rural community, bringing the lessons learnt of building our own.

We have a group of clinics in Southland and South Otago, as well as clinics on the West Coast of the South Island and in the Waikato. We also have interests in the supply chain- with investments in a national wholesaler and distributor- and we also have interests in rural clinics in SE Australia and Tasmania.

Hugh and his enthusiastic team of Vets, techs and nurses attend to both Small and Large animals, from the small provincial town of Levin (pop. 20,000).

Our large animal client base is progressive and a mix of smaller family farms and larger groups of farms.

We have been associated with welfare and farm production initiatives for a while now and enjoy helping farmer clients achieve good results in these areas.

We have been part of the Best Practice audit program for some time too, and this provides an external audit of our systems in the practice, both for Small and Large animal work.

Operating for over 77 years, Franklin Vets has grown to 10 clinics covering the South Auckland, North Waikato, and the Hauraki/Coromandel districts.

The business is split into Farm, Lifestyle, Companion Animal and Equine divisions. This allows our teams to focus on their individual areas of expertise and provide high standards of care and service, including having our core companion animal clinics all BESTPRACTICE accredited.

The team is passionate about the role we play as a part of our communities, both rural and urban. All 15 owners work within the business, providing local ownership at branch level and enabling us to build strong, enduring relationships with our clients.

Vetlife Ltd is a rural based veterinary practice, with 20 clinics scattered across the central east coast of the South Island of New Zealand.

Dairy, sheep, beef and deer comprise the production animal focus while companion animals also contribute majorly to our caseload.

We are a privately owned business with seven shareholders. Our veterinary business co interests lie on the West Coast of the South Island of NZ, as well in South Otago.

We also have a significant share in a Victorian rural vet practice (Australia).

Vertical integration through being co owners in a small NZ veterinary pharmaceutical company and a NZ veterinary wholesaler company complete our inventory retail focus.

Vet Sustain is an organisation dedicated to assisting veterinary professionals, and their vet led teams, become a leading force for sustainability. Vet Sustain has been proactive on a number of fronts, endeavoring to inspire veterinary professionals to develop their skills and practices in this area. The goals of both organisations focus around The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and highlight the unique positioning that the veterinary professions occupy at the human-animal-environment interface. Aligning under the One Health banner, our two groups have now agreed to work cooperatively on a number of projects.

David graduated from Edinburgh in 1986 and has worked as a vet with all species, but mostly with farm animals. He is Managing Director of Paragon, a mixed independent veterinary practice in Cumbria. He has a particular interest in cattle breeding and fertility, including advanced breeding technologies, and as well as being a holder of a Diploma in Bovine Reproduction (DBR) he also recently achieved a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVetMed) qualification in this speciality. He is recognised as an Emeritus Specialist in Cattle Health and Production by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.

He has been responsible for the establishment of a company called Activf-ET which delivers cattle breeding services, and especially IVF and novel associated technologies. Paragon was one of the founders of XLVets. David spent 11 years as Managing Director of that organisation before stepping down from the Board in the Summer of 2017. XLVets is a nationally distributed group of independent veterinary practices working together to achieve their aim of "Excellence in Practice”. He is Chair of the Board of the Veterinary Defence

Society and Treasurer of the World Association for Buiatrics. David is co-founder of VetSalus, and is Managing Director, and most recently became a founder Director of Vet Sustain a Community Interest Company seeking to inspire and enable vet professionals and vet-led businesses to lead on all aspects of sustainability.

email: [email protected] 

Veterinary business management and governance has been a passion of Lewis’s for many years, since he formed Hadron Consulting in 2003 to provide a range of services to veterinary practices and allied organisations. He served for several years as a board member of the New Zealand Veterinary Association, including two terms as President, as well as chairing VetLearn, the NZVA’s CPD business and project managing the organisational restructure.

Lewis continues to provide project management, strategic planning and succession planning services to veterinary businesses and has been involved in the VetSalus initiative since day one. Having recently retired as chair of Synergy Farm Health he has stepped into a new role as chair and director of VetSalus Ltd.

email: [email protected]

Mark graduated from Glasgow in 1988. Worked in the UK in a large mixed practice, specialising in production animals including dairy, pigs and sheep. Then in 1995 moved to NZ. He gained a Masters in Epidemiology in 2002 and formed VetSouth in 2006 by merging two local vet businesses. VetSouth now services almost 300,000 dairy cows across Southland and Otago, and has a strong research arm. Currently he is Director of Clinical and Business Strategy at VetNZ, the umbrella entity that incorporates VetSouth, West Coast Vets, and Vet Clinic Morrinsville amongst other (non-clinical) subsidiaries, employing almost 200 people including over 75 vets. He also heads up a growing research group with 4 epidemiologists and a number of research technicians.

His research work has included large, multi-site field trials with a particular focus on mastitis, antimicrobial efficacy, reproduction and animal welfare. He has published a number of peer reviewed papers and is a regular presenter at various international conferences. More recently he was a member of a Ministerial Advisory Group with regard to the recent M bovis incursion, and his research has been more focused on the sociological aspects of driving agricultural change. He is also a director of the NZVA, Chair of the NZVA Antimicrobial Resistance Committee, Director of VetSalus, and Managing Director of XLVets NZ.

email: [email protected]

Andrew graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in London in 1986, and apart from a short stint in New Zealand has worked in farm animal practice in the UK ever since. He is Senior Director of Synergy Farm Health, an independent 45 vet farm animal practice covering much of the South-West of England.

Clinically he is interested in proactive health planning programmes and calf health, and holds a Certificate in Cattle Health and Production from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. He has an active interest in Responsible Use of Medicines and the steps we can take in veterinary practice to minimise the impact on AMR (anti-microbial resistance) and also the role of farm animal practitioners within a sustainability agenda.

Having been Managing Director of Synergy Farm Health since inception in 2009 until November 2021, his responsibilities include exploring opportunities for Business Development, being involved in Medicines procurement and providing advisory services to  Senior Management. He is very motivated by people development and education and has been heavily involved with the development of the Synergy/RVC Internship programme and the Farm Animal Teaching rotation for final year veterinary students with the Royal Veterinary College, University of London.

Andrew is POV (Principal Official Veterinarian) of Farmcare West Ltd; on the medicines procurement Team for XLVets UK Ltd; Non-Executive Director for VDS (Veterinary Defence Society) and a Governor at Kingston Maurward College, Dorchester. He received the UK Food & Farming Industry Animal Health Adviser of the year award in 2019, and was awarded the prestigious Fellowship of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (FRCVS) in 2020 for meritorious contributions to the Veterinary Profession.

email: [email protected]

Katrine Lawaetz graduated from University of Copenhagen in 2009, and became DVA certified in Herd Health management, disease and reproduction in 2015. She is Managing director of Vestjyske Dyrlæger, a mixed practice located in the western most part of Denmark, and is currently working as a dairy herd health consultant. Her main focus is strategic development of business be it vet practices, farms or organisations. Constantly seeking to inspire and enable vet professionals and vet-led businesses to professionalise their business, create attractive workplaces and to lead on all aspects of sustainability. Katrine Joined the board of Dyrlæger & Ko in 2013 and was elected chair in 2020.

email: [email protected]