Celebrating 10 years of growth - Westpoint Veterinary Group

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WESTPOINT VETERINARY GROUP westpoint veterinary group Farm animal practices covering the South East Each of our local practices provide the following services: • Routine and first opinion work • Milk quality monitor • Local 24 hour emergency cover • Mastitis consultancy • Direct line to experienced vet • Bull and ram testing at any time – free of charge • Foot trimming and mobility services • Flock and herd health contracts • Benchmark and discussion groups • Flock and herd health planning • Farmer education and training • Routine fertility and scanning We pride ourselves on delivering a professional and caring service Call us now to arrange a free initial visit Westpoint covering Surrey and Sussex 01306 628086 Westpoint Bridgets covering Hampshire 01962 779593 Westpoint Sevenoaks covering North Kent and East Sussex 01959 564383 Westpoint Midhurst covering West Sussex and Hampshire 01730 815221 Farmers more likely to change banks than vets While Westpoint’s first home in the office of Warnham farmer Harry Hewlett came about through a series of coincidences, expansion since then has been carefully planned and strategic. The company has grown to be the largest UK veterinary group specialising in production animals, with 12 practices that stretch as far north as Penrith in Cumbria and as far west as St Columb in Cornwall. In the south of the country the expansion has been carefully designed to fill in gaps between existing practices so that no farm – and, more importantly, no animal in need of urgent attention – is more than 40 minutes or so away from the care that Westpoint provides. “It’s vital to us to keep close to our customers and their animals,” said Rob Drysdale. “We are driven by a desire to look after livestock – that’s why we became vets. We have Northpoint covering Essex and South Suffolk 01306 628489 Eastpoint covering Kent and East Sussex 01306 628208 Blade Farming are pleased to have been associated with Westpoint during their first ten years and wish them success in the future in the past turned farms down because we felt t hey were too far away from the nearest Westpoint practice to allow us to give them the right level of service.” It is that love of animals and the job they are qualified to do that means Rob and his colleague Matt Dobbs, who is chairman of the Westpoint board of directors, both spend three days a week on farm as well as doing their share of overnights and call outs. “We both see many clients on a weekly basis and many of our clients have become friends over the years,” said Matt. “Westpoint prides itself on its close relationship with the farmers it serves and it recognises that the farming community, perhaps more than any other, places a huge amount of importance on mutual trust. “Don’t forget that farmers aren’t trusting us with their pet cat, however important some people’s pets may be to them. They are trusting us with their livelihood, the animals on whose health their whole business depends. That level of trust is such that farmers are more likely to change banks than vets.” Such loyalty makes Westpoint’s remarkable growth even more impressive and reflects the company’s focus on providing a specialist service that delivers quality care at a fair price. “Because we only deal with production animals we have lower overheads than practices that also have to provide a receptionist and a waiting room and all the other things vets need if they are looking after dogs, hamsters, rabbits and canaries as well as farm animals,” said director Jon Mouncey. “Westpoint vets can dispense with all that because they do all their work out on farm, and because they are only concentrating on production animals they are able to build up a really specialised knowledge base about that one area.” After setting up on his own in October 2000, Rob was soon looking for an assistant and it soon became clear that a corner of the Ruckmans Farm office simply wasn’t big enough for the growing enterprise. The practice moved into a converted calf shed on the same farm – the first of a number of reshuffles and expansions – and before long there were three Westpoint vets as word spread and new clients realised the benefits on offer. By 2003 the company was employing five vets who were having to travel widely – too widely – to deliver the service to a growing customer base. “Once we were having to travel more than 40 minutes to provide responsive care to the animals we were looking after it was clear that we needed a second office closer to our clients, which is when we opened up the Eastpoint practice at Barrow Hill in Ashford,” explained Rob. Northpoint in Dunmow, Specialising in: Rearing high health status weaned calves for sale to Beef farmers Forward pricing contracts for all types of Finished cattle A developing market for Aberdeen Angus cattle Science • Commitment • Results Contact Blade Farming for more details on 08456 013281 or visit www.blade-farming.com South East Farmer - September 2010 42 020.032 Westpoint SouthEast 133x93 Ad.indd 1 22/09/2009 10:09
headed up by Jules Dare, was the next practice to open under the banner of the Westpoint Veterinary Group. Three years later the company moved into Sussex when it took over a practice in Midhurst now managed by associate director Keith Baxter and set up its first purpose-built, on-farm facility. That was followed by the opening of the Bridgets facility at Martyr Worthy, near Winchester in Hampshire. The Midhurst and Bridgets practices now work closely together to prov ide comprehensive overlap cover in that part of the country – a good example of the Westpoint approach. Midhurst is also home to Bridgelands Laboratory Services, which include a national mastitis service. “We weren’t getting cost effective or reliable enough results from outside companies so we now have two full time staff doing testing inhouse and giving us a cheaper and better service,” said Rob. There are three other Westpoint practices in the south west of the country, with eight vets operating from Launceston and St Columb in Cornwall and Okehampton in Devon. Hatfield in Hertfordshire, Ashbourne in Derbyshire, Penrith in Cumbria and, closer to home, Sevenoaks in Kent make Consultancy advice aimed at healthy profits Westpoint has a specific consultancy service designed to give farmers pro-active herd and flock health management solutions with the aim of maximising farm profits. Work includes examining farm economics and disease losses as part of a bespoke livestock business review, helping to improve milk production levels and milk quality, controlling mastitis through preventative treatment and improving nutritional management. Safavet Advert_SVD 24/08/2010 10:37 Page 1 Safavet Direct SUPPLYING VETERINARY CONSUMABLES would like to congratulate Westpoint Veterinary Group on a successful 10 years of trading and we look forward to being able to supply them for the next 10 years! 1 Westpoint Warnham, West Sussex RH12 3SH 2 Eastpoint Ashford, Kent TN24 8TY 3 Northpoint Dunmow, Essex CM6 1RB 4 Midhurst Midhurst, West Sussex GU29 0LJ 5 Brigets Winchester, Hampshire SO21 1AR 6 Trethorne Launceston, Cornwall PL15 8QE 7 Royal Veterinary Hatfield, College Herefordshire AL9 7TA 8 Okehampton Okehampton, Devon EX20 1EU 9 Winnard’s Perch St Columb, Cornwall TR9 6DT 10 Sevenoaks Sevenoaks, Kent TN16 1LL 11 Ashbourne Weston Underwood, Derbyshire DE6 4PA 12 Cumbria Plumpton, Penrich CA11 9PF up the rest of the Westpoint practices that now cover much of the country. “As soon as we move into a new location and people see what we are offering we attract new customers,” said Rob. “We are careful to try to place our new practices in places that fill in gaps between existing facilities so that we can provide good 24 hour cover to all our clients.” Some of those clients have come on board as a result of acquisitions, which makes it vital that Westpoint quickly demonstrates the additional value they can deliver, which is where transparent pricing has been shown to be so important. The group now has about 2,500 farmers on its books in total, with between 200 and 300 clients receiving a weekly visit from their dedicated vet and another 700 being seen at least monthly as part of the company’s commitment to offering proactive support and advice. WESTPOINT VETERINARY GROUP Autumn Offer AvAilAble - contact Westpoint* Would you like to FOOTBATH ... ONLY TWICE A MONTH ... www.safavet.com ASK YOUR SUPPLIER OR CALL 01737 781416 Further information is available on request from Forum Animal Health, 57-65 Station Road, Redhill RH1 1DL *Offer runs 1 September - 30 November 2010 www.southeastfarmer.net 43 South East Farmer - September 2010
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Celebrating 10 years of growth - Westpoint Veterinary Group

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