The VetPartners Senior Leaders Programme equips Clinical Directors, Practice Managers and senior leaders with the skills, confidence and strategic insight to lead successful teams and businesses.
Here, Farm vet Rob Hall explains how the programme has helped him grow as a leader and make a greater impact in his field…
FOR Rob Hall, becoming a farm vet was almost written in the mud from day one. Raised on a dairy farm, he grew up mucking out sheds, tending sheep and throwing himself into whatever jobs needed doing after school.
While his younger brother Matt went on to become the family’s third-generation farmer, Rob took a different route – heading to Cambridge University to study veterinary medicine.
“Farming was a way of life to us, and I was either going to end up as a farmer or a farm vet,” he said.
“I love that I’ve found a career rooted in the farming community because, despite the many challenges, farming is a fantastic world to be part of.”
His dad and brother, who also had a career in farm financial consultancy and artificial insemination, now run the farm near Skipton on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, milking 180 cows through a robotic milking system on a tenanted dairy farm.
Whether it is monitoring on herd health, testing for infections to prevent disease outbreaks, advising farmers on nutrition, housing and hygiene or performing emergency surgeries, Rob believes his farming background is helpful but not essential.
He wants to ensure that people from all walks of life, whether they were raised on a farm or not, have opportunities to work as farm vets.
While Rob’s lifelong understanding of the farming way of life has helped him enormously, he believes the key qualities behind his success as a farm vet have been empathy, a caring nature and a willingness to listen to the people he works with every day.
Recently promoted to Clinical Director at LLM Farm Vets, where he has worked since graduating, Rob believes the most successful farm vets are those who see themselves as part of the wider farm team.
He said: “I take a lot of pride from seeing farmers I work with doing well, having successful, healthy herds or flocks and running a farm in a way that suits them. I enjoy helping farmers to make decisions that help a multigenerational business.
“Farmers need our support because they experience the harsh realities of life and death, they often feel isolated in rural communities and often face financial struggles.
“It’s important that vets listen, understand the challenges farmers are facing and work alongside them rather than simply telling them what to do. Trust and good communication are at the heart of the job.
“When you build strong relationships with farming families and see the difference your advice can make over time, that’s one of the most rewarding parts of being a farm vet.”
Rob helps to lead a team of more than 50 field team members, including over 30 vets, at LLM Farm Vets which has been caring for livestock for 25 years since being established as the UK’s first farm animal-only veterinary practice.
He holds a Diploma in Bovine Reproduction (DBR) and underwent the VetPartners Senior Leaders Programme which helps to equip and support vets for leadership roles to prepare to become a Clinical Director, a role that was a natural step up to someone who has always sought out opportunities to help others.
Rob said: “I was involved in managing vet techs and mentoring new graduates quite early in my career and that led to me becoming involved in practice management. Completing the Senior Leaders course provided some great learning resources and opportunities to learn from people in Human Resources, finance and business. You meet people in similar positions across VetPartners who like myself were senior vets moving into Clinical Director roles or are already in that role.
“There was a brilliant mix of young and experienced people in practice management, and it created a great network to discuss challenges. The course really gave me more confidence in my decision making, but I know if I need advice, I can pick up the phone and speak to someone from another practice. That’s one of the benefits of being part of VetPartners.”
Rob is mainly based at LLM Farm Vets in Whitchurch, Shropshire, but has worked across all the practice’s branches in Eccleshall in Staffordshire; Broughton and Higham in Lancashire and Bakewell and Needwood in Derbyshire.
He has been involved in a number of areas of the practice, including BVD eradication and Johne’s control schemes, and managing the team of veterinary technicians. His work focuses heavily on cattle fertility and herd health, supporting dairy herds across a range of production systems, while also continuing to work with breeding bulls and the artificial insemination industry.
At the end of 2023, he established LLM’s services on the island of Guernsey, providing regular veterinary care for the island’s 11 dairy herds, with 1200 adult cows between them, as well as sheep and goats.
As part of a three-vet rota, he spends one week a month on the island vising farms and when he isn’t there, he provides telemedicine to farmers.
His career is varied and demanding, but for Rob, the greatest reward remains working alongside farming families and helping secure the future of the industry he has been part of since childhood.
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