VETERINARY HEALTH
FEATURED COMPANY:
Ruminant Health Solutions
SUPPORTING THE FARMER’S BOTTOM LINE
50
While every vet’s focus will always be on the health of the animals he or she is caring for, Rob Drysdale knows that from a business point of view, the farmer has at least one eye on the cost of production. Ensuring that the animal is giving as much milk, or putting on as much meat as possible, and that the whole set up of the business is keeping costs as low as possible was not high on the list of priorities in the James Herriot days of emergency vets dashing to the aid of sick animals, usually in atrocious weather and inevitably in the small hours. Now, though, it is very much the priority, with the vet – in surveys regularly the most trusted on-farm adviser – able to give a far
broader range of technical advice aimed at supporting the farmer’s bottom line. And cost of production is something Rob, whose new business Ruminant Health Solutions has just opened a new office near Horsham in West Sussex, knows plenty about. After finishing a Nuffield Farming Scholarship looking at dairy beef production, Rob and his wife Bonnie developed their own farming business, including a beef unit in Somerset, in 2015. Although they spent several years building the business through a tough period for the beef industry, the Covid-19 shutdown ended the dream when big buyers like McDonald’s dropped out of the market and exports halted overnight. >>
Radu Morindau MARCH 2024 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET
Rob Drysdale MRCVS MBIAC