Meet our Experts - Rob Jackson

Rob Jackson is part of our network of experts, read below to find out a little more about his work.

Rob qualified from the Royal Veterinary College, London in 1996. He started his veterinary career in mixed practices in Surrey and Somerset and over the last 25 years he has worked as a large animal vet across five continents. He was a British Equestrian Team Vet (including for the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky, 2010) and has been a lecturer and external examiner for three UK agricultural colleges.

In amongst this Rob also achieved a Diploma in Surveying (Rural Practice) from the College of Estate Management, Reading and has managed four separate estates including a 12,000 acre private estate with six farms in a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

He has considerable experience of personally delivering mid- and higher-tier Countryside Stewardship Schemes and has worked as a consultant on numerous Agri-Environment schemes in the devolved UK nations. With his wife Anna (also a vet) he has farmed cattle and sheep throughout southern England and they have converted two of their own farms to organic status. They have also milked cows, raised pigs, goats and turkeys, bred horses, and have direct experience with multi-species herbal leys, mob-grazing, minimum-/no-till, composting and other regenerative techniques. They do their own coppicing and traditional hedge laying, and Rob has farmed and extracted timber using working horses. They are currently working to increase soil carbon on heavy Wealden clay and are on a mission to recycle, rather than burn, 100% of their on-farm waste from hedge laying.

Rob is a director of a multi-disciplinary consultancy which provides international veterinary biomechanics research and clinics, farm compliance and biosecurity audits, and conservation grazing, estate planning and tree/hedge planting services. He has published papers in the fields of veterinary medicine, arboriculture, functional anatomy and equestrian history. His board experience includes being vice chair of Glastonbury Abbey, chair of Woolbeding Gardens, and chairing the membership and marketing committee of the South Downs Society for whom he also gave the 90th anniversary speech at the House of Lords.

He is registered as a practicing vet in both the UK and New South Wales, Australia; he is a British Driving Society level 4 Professional Carriage Driver, liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Farriers and an independent member of the National Trust Livestock Advisory Group. He is currently Team Vet for the England Home International Endurance Riding Squad and is a keen drummer.

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