The MacVet Podcast

Pete Orpin began his career like so many vets do; concerned that he'd make mistakes and not have enough knowledge to be a 'good vet'.

However, he soon realised that it was far more important to focus on forging strong relationships with his clients, to build trust and work together to approach problem solving on farm.

He applied this approach when co-creating the myhealthyherd.com herd health management tool, to facilitate herd health planning between vets and farmers.

In this episode, we discuss:

Listen in to hear Pete's thoughts on communication, cows and coffee!

Notes:

Contact on LinkedIn @PeteOrpin

Society of Practising Veterinary Surgeons (SPVS) https://spvs.org.uk/

Action group on Johne's https://actionjohnesuk.org/

Vibeke Fladkjear Nielsen soon realised that becoming a successful consultant would take more than her agriculture degree. Returning to university to complete a masters degree in psychology gave her the foundation to better understand what motivates people.

Vibeke is a Danish specialist in LEAN and change management in the dairy industry. She has more than 15 years of practical and theoretical experience helping people work together more effectively on farm.

In this episode, we discuss:

Listen in to hear Vibeke's thoughts on communication!

Show notes:

Lean In Agriculture: Create More Value with Less Work on the Farm, co-author with Susanne Pejstrup

In this episode, we revisit conversations with two former guests, David Main and Alison Blackler.

David shares his own experience of being on the receiving end of poor communication, after his wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Alison shares her most important communication skill and one she recommends we can all work on, our ability to listen to understand, rather than to respond.

Listen to the full length episodes by clicking on the links below:

David

https://www.macvetltd.co.uk/podcast/episode/31f38855/communication-curiosity-and-complexities

Alison

https://www.macvetltd.co.uk/podcast/episode/19c5641f/reach-out

“Listen to the cow – she’s got know-how!”

Joep Driessen is a veterinarian, entrepreneur and businessman. He is co-creator of Vetvice and creator of the globally successful CowSignals training programme.

Joep is an energetic, passionate cow-communicator on amission to inspire vets, farmers and advisors to ‘do the right thing’ for the cow, so everyone benefits.

Based on observation of cow behaviours in different environments, and recognition of what conditions make cows 'happy', the CowSignals training programme aims to help farmers prevent disease, increase income, and improve cow welfare. Joep has educated more than 400 CowSignals trainers in over 50 countries.

In this episode, we discuss: 

• ​the significance of adopting a prevention rather than cure approach to cow management,
• ​reaching a global audience to share the CowSignals message,
• ​what makes working with cows so rewarding.

Listen in to hear Joep’s thoughts on communication, cows and coffee!

Links from the show:

https://www.cowsignals.com/en/

Former Secretary of State for Defra (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs), George Eustice has spent the past 25 years working in various roles within the world of British politics.

As a 6th generation farmer, the expectation had been to continue working within the family business but a formative event at age 22 prompted the move into the political arena. George subsequently had four years experience of communication and media management at the highest level in politics.

This year (2024) has seen the start of a new career path for George, as director of Penbroath Consultants, a policy and regulatory affairs consultancy specialising in the environment, natural capital, water, agri-food and waste sectors.

In this episode, we discuss:

how the style of political communications has shifted over time,

developing a taste for political conflict,

coffee drinking habits in Westminster.

Listen in to hear George's thoughts on communication, cows and coffee!

Links from this episode:

https://penbroathconsultants.co.uk/

Julia Moorhouse is the head of veterinary services for Map of Ag, a company that provides a data platform for the agrifood sector, connecting farms and industry. In this role, she supplies technical advice to dairy processors, retailers and their producers.

Prior to joining Map of Ag, Julia worked in mixed, mainly farm animal practice in the north of England for 13 years. Growing up on a pedigree dairy cattle farm influenced her decision to become a vet and communicating with farmers remains her key drive in the varied work she delivers today.

In this episode, we discuss:

• ​the 2024 TotalDairy Conference - what it's about, who should attend and how it can make a difference at the farm gate
• ​how to effectively communicate data to different audiences
• ​an exciting shared love of one particular dairy cow breed

Listen in to hear Julia's thoughts on communication, cows and coffee!

Links from this episode:

https://www.totaldairy.com/

https://mapof.ag/team-member/944/

How would expectations compare with the reality of starting work as a vet? Sky Tetlow has just completed her first year in farm animal practice. Looking back, she reflects on how valuable it was to invest time and effort into finding the right practice for her.

Having joined Cross Counties Farm Vets - part of the VetPartners group - she set about building her skills in calving, castrations and call outs, taking a positive attitude when faced with challenging situations and reaching out to others to build knowledge and confidence.

In this episode, we discuss:

the importance of being honest to build stronger connections,

the power of communication within the practice team,

creating a diverse support network.

Listen in to hear Sky's thoughts on communication, cows and coffee!

Alice Swift believes that farmers can benefit from opportunities that come from building closer relationships with retailers.

Having worked in the dairy and beef sectors for over 20 years, it is her experience and expertise in bridging the gap between farmers and retailers that drives her continued passion working to support the agriculture industry.  

Growing up on a hill farm in North East England, Alice developed a deep-seated desire to work with and support farmers through her career in agriculture. It was the experiences during her degree course and placement year that catapulted her into the world of corporate business, working for supermarket giants Tesco and Sainsbury’s.  

In this episode, we discuss: 

Listen in to hear Alice’s thoughts on communication, cows and coffee! 

New and recent veterinary graduates often worry about projecting confidence in their roles.

In this clip from Series 2 of The MacVet Podcast, Kat Hart talks about her experiences as a new and recent graduate on farm.

Kat grew up on a farm and talks about how this helped when making connections with farmer clients. She shares some some excellent tips on how to use communication to build connections and confidence on farm.

You can listen to the full episode here: https://www.macvetltd.co.uk/podcast/episode/487c3f95/galvanize

Kat Hart is a cattle young stock specialist and part of the Cultivate CPD veterinary team https://www.cultivatecpd.co.uk/about/

New and recent veterinary graduates often worry about projecting confidence in their roles. Communication can help with this.

Stuart Russell didn't come from a farming background and was conscious of his lack of farming knowledge. In this clip, he talks about his approach to building confidence as a new vet on farm, with some excellent tips on how to use communication to learn and build connections.

You can listen to the full episode here: https://www.macvetltd.co.uk/podcast/episode/1eb16681/balanced-conversations-better-understanding

Stuart Russell is a dairy veterinarian and data scientist.

He's the director of define:ag https://define.ag/#splash