Fair Deal For Farmers: Modern farms still need vets
Farming technology has come on in leaps and bounds over the past century.
The horse-drawn plough has made way for the tractor, combine harvesters have transformed the gathering of the grain.
Advances in crop technology give modern farms efficiency levels unimaginable a couple of generations ago.
But one thing that hasn't changed is the close relationship between farming and the veterinary profession. While the techniques and medicines have seen huge advances since James Herriot's day, the principles of caring for animals are still the same, and farming continues to support thousands of jobs in veterinary care across the country.
Trefaldwyn Vets, which has bases in Montgomery and Llanfair Caerinion, employs nine full-time vets, one part-time one, as well as three nurses and eight support staff.
The practice has been caring for farm animals since the 1940s, and demand continues to be strong, with farming accounting for approximately 60 per cent of its work.
"It's a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week job," says vet Oli Hodgkinson.
"The animals still get sick, and farms still need vets."
Having grown up with fresh fruit and veg on the doorstep, Bulgarian Dimitar Marinov knew it was something he wanted to pursue as a career.
Four years after starting up his own business the 34-year-old and his partner Amy Ford are reaping the fruits of their hard work as their business continues to grow.
The pair run Box of Goodness from Rowton, near Shrewsbury, and they make deliveries to between 70 and 100 properties each week across the SY postcode.
They source the majority of their produce from local suppliers and use nearby farms and dairies for their milk, eggs, yoghurt and cereals.
Amy, 23, said: "Dimitar's mother has the most amazing garden back in Bulgaria with a vast array of fruit and vegetables.
"It is what he has grown up with and was the inspiration behind the business.
"He came to Britain 13 years ago and started working in the fields. He built himself up and started the business himself. It was a big step but it has paid off in the end.
"We source as much as we can from local growers for our boxes and if we have to, we go to farms a bit further afield and then to the markets.
"Most of our vegetables and salad come from Newport and some of our fruit comes from Craven Arms. We also get some of our supplies from a farm in Market Drayton. We do have to go to a farmer in Staffordshire who provides us with our strawberries, raspberries and cherries but we also use Cotteswold Diary, in Shrewsbury, for our butter, milk and yoghurt and Pimhill Farm, at Harmer Hill, for muesli and oats.
"This week we have had English plums, corn on the cob and strawberries in our boxes along with a variety of other locally sourced produce.
"We have between 70 and 100 orders a week and we supply from as far north as Whitchurch, Oswestry and Ellesmere to Church Stretton and Craven Arms.
Mr Hodgkinson says that most farmers consider animal welfare to be a top priority, for both ethical and commercial reasons.
"For farmers the animals are their livelihoods, and the animals become more efficient when they are well cared for," says Mr Hodgkinson.
But he says there is a real ethical dilemma when hard-pressed farmers struggle to pay their vets' bills.
"We sign an oath when we graduate saying that the animal comes first and if, say, a cow is about to go into labour you can't just ignore it, even if you haven't been paid by the farmer for years," he says.
Mr Hodgkinson says low farm-gate prices were the biggest problems for farmers, and many people do not appreciate just how tough life was for them.
"For the farmer it is very difficult, because they are not being paid the prices they deserve," he says.
"People see them driving a very expensive tractor and think they must be doing all right, but the reality is that the tractor is probably hired and is no different to a piece of machinery in a factory."
Mr Hodgkinson says people take the plentiful supply of food for granted, and do not realise that cheap produce in the supermarkets comes at a great price for the long-term viability of the industry.
"Britain needs food, and the farmer needs a realistic price," he says.
"If that is not realized then ultimately the stock will suffer along with the farmer."
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He says farmers also play a crucial role in maintaining the countryside which defines much of Shropshire and Mid Wales. Without their efforts the visitor economy would also suffer, he says.
"The countryside needs people to manage it – the hedgerows need to be trimmed, the weeds need to be removed, the fields need to be maintained.
"Without the interaction then the wildlife suffers and the countryside looks a mess."
He adds: "A tidy countryside brings in tourists whose income is also desperately needed by the rural community.
"If the farmers receive a good price for their produce, they are then able to pay and use their suppliers.
"They are then all able to spend money which is put back into the local community.
"It is one big cycle which heavily relies on each other."
Mr Hodgkinson says: "To put it simply without farming there is no local community.
"Farms provide jobs for the rural community, they provide money for the rural community, they provide the spirit of the local community."
