Vet call out charges

mtx135

Member
Location
south east
Ours are in the region of £150 an hour and used to be no call out but last time I had a pre booked appointment I think it was £25 then hourly rate while they were here.
 

Farmer Fin

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Aberdeenshire
Relative to hourly rate and drug prices. I’m personally against call out charges based on distance. Why penalise someone who wants to use you especially as farm vets rarely go practice to the farm then back to the practice, normally a round of calls.
 

yellowbelly

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
N.Lincs
Just think of a number and add some on :banghead:

Last year we exported some semen to the USA (and in turn to Canada and NZ). We needed extensive tests, whilst the tups were in isolation, which required the vet to have passed various 'boards' (in order to be qualified to complete the paperwork) - that guy charged by the minute :facepalm:
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Just think of a number and add some on :banghead:

Last year we exported some semen to the USA (and in turn to Canada and NZ). We needed extensive tests, whilst the tups were in isolation, which required the vet to have passed various 'boards' (in order to be qualified to complete the paperwork) - that guy charged by the minute :facepalm:

I’ve just sent some sheep to Russia, as part of a consignment. I filled all the paperwork in as much as I could, ready for the vet (who had done that course), as it was just simpler that way.

Our vet has banded call out charges, which I think is a great idea as my nearest gateway is about 150m from the surgery. Hourly rate is the same wherever you live though.:(
I do try to pop most sheep round to the surgery though, in order to at least save the call out, as well as utilise whatever subsidised health programs I can.
 

yellowbelly

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
N.Lincs
I’ve just sent some sheep to Russia, as part of a consignment. I filled all the paperwork in as much as I could, ready for the vet (who had done that course), as it was just simpler that way.
We did the same, just needed his 'autograph' and the results attaching but it was still a fair old bill.
 
Relative to hourly rate and drug prices. I’m personally against call out charges based on distance. Why penalise someone who wants to use you especially as farm vets rarely go practice to the farm then back to the practice, normally a round of calls.
Why should vet call outs be any different to mechanics call outs where you pay travelling time.
 

Farmer Fin

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Aberdeenshire
Why should vet call outs be any different to mechanics call outs where you pay travelling time.
As I said I don’t think it’s right to penalise someone if you really want their business. Plus vet rarely go practice to farm to practice, it’s normally a round of calls or you may end up travelling one side of the area to the other. Does the second farmer get a massive bill then? Just because a farm is next door to the practice doesn’t mean the vet drove there from the practice. What happens out of hours when vets travel from their homes? Standard call out charges are the simplest and fairest. They should be designed to cover the cost of running the vehicle and a standard amount of time.
 
Perhaps we’d been spoilt, but our previous vet, who had now sold the large animal practise, was £16.50 call out. Then the work plus drugs.
The competition are £29 call out, but the lot who bought the old vet out are £35 call out.
Makes a huge difference to pre MT cattle as two visits charged for before they’ve even looked at the animals.

And lambing sheep ? Mmmmm. Daughter asked for help lambing a ewe with triplets. Let’s just say that when the bill came, the vet had ‘bought’ the Berluddy sheep. All four.
 

Steevo

Member
Location
Gloucestershire
Vets fees always appear expensive, but as they offer a 24 hour service and normally are with you within an hour of a phone call, they are actually good value really........ especially if you only use them once or twice a year.

Nice perspective. If you spread it out across the whole of the "herd" I guess they appear even more reasonable too.

Often we pay insurance without getting anything back other than peace of mind. So knowing you can call on a vet like that is better than insurance because you only pay when you need it. As I said, spread that cost across the whole herd (that with insurance you are insuring anyway) it looks very cheap.

Good point that - imagine if vets did an AA/RAC type system where you paid a fixed fee per year which covered you if you needed it. Same idea as insurance really I guess.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 78 42.9%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 63 34.6%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.5%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 5 2.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,286
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
Top