Congratulations to Oli on winning the Farmers Weekly 2018 Farm Adviser of the Year – we are so proud of you! Here is an extract from the article…..
Farm vet Oliver (Oli) Hodgkinson is the Farmers Weekly 2018 Farm Adviser of the Year. Since joining independent veterinary practice Trefaldwyn Vets in 2009 as a partner, Oliver has made it his primary objective to move from fire fighting problems with medication to proactive health planning for his client base of 200 beef, sheep and dairy farms. And he seems to be winning the battle, as his award-winning clients John and Sarah Yeomans can testify!
Oliver has a close working relationship with Farming Connect, delivering animal health related events and projects and was also previously a representative on the North Wales Veterinary Steering Group. He juggles hands-on time at his own farm with running a busy mixed veterinary practice. He is involved with Gwaredu BVD (BVD eradication programme in Wales) and a past board member of the Red Tractor Dairy sector, the British Cattle Veterinary Association and BVD Free England.
The judges said that good farm advisers are seen by their clients as a necessary cost, solving issues as and when problems crop up, saying that the best advisers make the leap from being a cost to a key driver of profit for the businesses they advise, using their vast knowledge base to identify areas to trim costs, increase health and fully use available schemes and grants.
“The standout ones are not satisfied with just assisting their own clients, they want to see the agriculture industry as a whole become more profitable, safe, and in Oliver’s case, have higher standards of welfare.”
