Medicine costs

[dod1e]

I recently had to get some advice from my vet regarding wormer and made it clear to them I couldn't afford to pay over the odds and they offered a cash price about 1/3 of the standard price and cheaper than any online price.

5L noromectin for £36. First price they came away with was £104 until I objected. I thought the difference was ridiculous and obviously a no brainer to pay on collection. Just to show the potential mark up.

Obviously different with antibiotics etc, but still worth a conversation.

 

[skidless]

Anyone bought draxxin recently? Quoted £290/100ml

Currently in dispute with my vet on draxxin costs ,they have invoiced me £225 for 50ml , farmacy charge something like £145 per 50ml , we all have to make a living but this is taking the michael

 

[yellowbelly]

Anyone bought draxxin recently? Quoted £290/100ml

Your quote doesn't look too far out of line

 

[Hampton]

Anyone bought draxxin recently? Quoted £290/100ml

Cheap

 

[texelburger]

My new vets price is £280 so about right

I just paid £171 for 50 ml Draxin and £8.45 for 100ml of Alamycin LA.Prices seems competitive on the Alamycin and too much for the Draxin,all from the same practice.
Edit,just checked with vets 50ml Draxin £142 and a few pence plus vat,so original price was vat inclusive.

 

[bovine]

There are some very complex issues at play here. I think the mistake a lot of people make is that vets are all paying the same price for drugs and some are making vastly more than others. This generally is not the case. There are a heap of deals/discounts and pricing structures that reward us spending money with a particular company. The list price for Alamycin is about £15. That would make £21 a pretty fair price if the vets didn't buy in bulk and didn't buy much else from the company......

Another issue we have to contend with is responsible use of medicines. Personally I believe it is irresponsible making these products too cheap. It devalues them and makes people more likely to use them. Few people are over-using Zolvix at £1 per dose whereas cheap ivermectin at 5p a dose hardly gets a second thought. There is an argument put forward for a minimum price for a treatment with a wormer or antibiotic. In principal I am sympathetic with that and I keep my antibiotic prices higher, I keep vaccines, anti-inflammatories, wormers etc cheaper. I personally think that's a better way of operating the business, and how I can see things going.

The drug companies see that selling product to the end user at less than £10/bottle doesn't make sense when you look at costs of production, distribution, licencing etc. Norbrook dropped about 1/3 of their least profitable products, things like the cheap and cheerful Tetroxy vanish. I can see other things going the same way, and prices (particularly of antibiotics) climbing faster than inflation. This is actually a good thing. It's amazing how some farms use hardly any antibiotics and others come in weekly for another dozen bottles (I'm exaggerating, but you get my point).

The model of cheap drugs, works well to gain business in an area but makes little money for the practice. We've seen big chunks of the country where practices have come along, killed the competition and then raised prices. That's all that will happen when you start fixating on the cost of a bottle of something. By far the best idea is to work with your vet in terms of prevention of disease and use a lot less reactive treatments. If you don't start doing so now, you will be forced in the future.

The cost of a bottle of something really doesn't matter that much. As I said in my first post in this thread - what matters is the overall cost and quality of the service. If you want good vets when you need them you will have to pay for them. Most farm practices I know are struggling to get staff. Profit and wages mean the practice is sustainable and can retain and pay staff. That's to your benefit when you need it. Give this some thought.

 

[sjewart]

There are some very complex issues at play here. I think the mistake a lot of people make is that vets are all paying the same price for drugs and some are making vastly more than others. This generally is not the case. There are a heap of deals/discounts and pricing structures that reward us spending money with a particular company. The list price for Alamycin is about £15. That would make £21 a pretty fair price if the vets didn't buy in bulk and didn't buy much else from the company......

Another issue we have to contend with is responsible use of medicines. Personally I believe it is irresponsible making these products too cheap. It devalues them and makes people more likely to use them. Few people are over-using Zolvix at £1 per dose whereas cheap ivermectin at 5p a dose hardly gets a second thought. There is an argument put forward for a minimum price for a treatment with a wormer or antibiotic. In principal I am sympathetic with that and I keep my antibiotic prices higher, I keep vaccines, anti-inflammatories, wormers etc cheaper. I personally think that's a better way of operating the business, and how I can see things going.

The drug companies see that selling product to the end user at less than £10/bottle doesn't make sense when you look at costs of production, distribution, licencing etc. Norbrook dropped about 1/3 of their least profitable products, things like the cheap and cheerful Tetroxy vanish. I can see other things going the same way, and prices (particularly of antibiotics) climbing faster than inflation. This is actually a good thing. It's amazing how some farms use hardly any antibiotics and others come in weekly for another dozen bottles (I'm exaggerating, but you get my point).

The model of cheap drugs, works well to gain business in an area but makes little money for the practice. We've seen big chunks of the country where practices have come along, killed the competition and then raised prices. That's all that will happen when you start fixating on the cost of a bottle of something. By far the best idea is to work with your vet in terms of prevention of disease and use a lot less reactive treatments. If you don't start doing so now, you will be forced in the future.

The cost of a bottle of something really doesn't matter that much. As I said in my first post in this thread - what matters is the overall cost and quality of the service. If you want good vets when you need them you will have to pay for them. Most farm practices I know are struggling to get staff. Profit and wages mean the practice is sustainable and can retain and pay staff. That's to your benefit when you need it. Give this some thought.

I do appreciate what you say above @bovine but I feel if the costs of meds continue to rise there will be a lot more animal cruelty cases around. None of us wants to compromise the welfare of our livestock but purchasing preventative meds, as good as that option is, isn't going to stop the use of expensive antibiotics completely.

 

[Hampton]

There are some very complex issues at play here. I think the mistake a lot of people make is that vets are all paying the same price for drugs and some are making vastly more than others. This generally is not the case. There are a heap of deals/discounts and pricing structures that reward us spending money with a particular company. The list price for Alamycin is about £15. That would make £21 a pretty fair price if the vets didn't buy in bulk and didn't buy much else from the company......

Another issue we have to contend with is responsible use of medicines. Personally I believe it is irresponsible making these products too cheap. It devalues them and makes people more likely to use them. Few people are over-using Zolvix at £1 per dose whereas cheap ivermectin at 5p a dose hardly gets a second thought. There is an argument put forward for a minimum price for a treatment with a wormer or antibiotic. In principal I am sympathetic with that and I keep my antibiotic prices higher, I keep vaccines, anti-inflammatories, wormers etc cheaper. I personally think that's a better way of operating the business, and how I can see things going.

The drug companies see that selling product to the end user at less than £10/bottle doesn't make sense when you look at costs of production, distribution, licencing etc. Norbrook dropped about 1/3 of their least profitable products, things like the cheap and cheerful Tetroxy vanish. I can see other things going the same way, and prices (particularly of antibiotics) climbing faster than inflation. This is actually a good thing. It's amazing how some farms use hardly any antibiotics and others come in weekly for another dozen bottles (I'm exaggerating, but you get my point).

The model of cheap drugs, works well to gain business in an area but makes little money for the practice. We've seen big chunks of the country where practices have come along, killed the competition and then raised prices. That's all that will happen when you start fixating on the cost of a bottle of something. By far the best idea is to work with your vet in terms of prevention of disease and use a lot less reactive treatments. If you don't start doing so now, you will be forced in the future.

The cost of a bottle of something really doesn't matter that much. As I said in my first post in this thread - what matters is the overall cost and quality of the service. If you want good vets when you need them you will have to pay for them. Most farm practices I know are struggling to get staff. Profit and wages mean the practice is sustainable and can retain and pay staff. That's to your benefit when you need it. Give this some thought.

If they take the cheap antibiotics off the market, the premium ones will get sucked into a price war. It makes sense for them to keep the likes of Alamycin otherwise the premium drugs will be used for more trivial issues.

 

[Farmeress]

Anyone bought draxxin recently? Quoted £290/100ml

I recently bought 100ml online at www.farmvetsupplies.com £276

 

[Full of bull(s)]

I recently bought 100ml online at www.farmvetsupplies.com £276

How much does your vet charge you for the script? Never bought online or asked the question of the vet.

 

[Princess Pooper]

We've only ever used draxxin for calf pneumonia and fortunately not had to use for a few years since we improved our rearing protocols. If we needed some now, hopefully it would only be for the odd one so at those prices I would go to the vets and ask them to put some individual syringes up for me. A darn sight cheaper than having a part used bottle hanging around.

 

[Clive]

Who are the big uk vet med suppliers ? Let me know and I will speak to them about Farm marketplace / discounts etc

All sounds a bit like the arable world where different farms pay different prices for chemicals etc !

well we have a few med suppliers on Farm Marketplace now following some of the feedback earlier in this thread

some products need prescription etc and some don't we still have a couple hundred products still to add but put quite a lot on last week (circa 700)

https://www.marketplace.farm/farm-animal-equestrian-and-pest-control/animal-health-and-wellbeing/

how do the prices compare ? all feedback appreciated to help us improve and evolve this over time

 

[beefandsleep]

Some good prices on there. What is the typical vets charge for a prescription?

 

[Chris F]

I recently bought 100ml online at www.farmvetsupplies.com £276

DraXxin was added to FM this week as @Clive says.

I looked up that product to see if the prices were competitive. They seem in the right area.

https://www.marketplace.farm/farm-a...lbeing/draxxin-100mgml-injection-100ml-pom-v/

 

[bovine]

well we have a few med suppliers on Farm Marketplace now following some of the feedback earlier in this thread

I see it as a shame as farm vet practices are been shafted from all sides, but it's your forum.

I think I might stop giving away free advice though.

 

[Clive]

I see it as a shame as farm vet practices are been shafted from all sides, but it's your forum.

I think I might stop giving away free advice though.

I dont think its anything new, these products have been available from those vendors for a long time, all thats new is that Farm marketplace makes more farmers aware of that I guess

competition should only be feared by the uncompetitive

I agree though good advice has a value and should be paid for, I don't really know the vet med market at all but in the arable world Im more than happy to pay for the advice and crop recommendations we need and them go source product at the best price from whoever I can

 

[Headless chicken]

I see it as a shame as farm vet practices are been shafted from all sides, but it's your forum.

I think I might stop giving away free advice though.

Although I agree it’s not fair your comment above isn’t in the spirt of the forum. We all hand out advise free of charge to each other I appreciate yours is of a different skill set but still

 

[yellowbelly]

I see it as a shame as farm vet practices are been shafted from all sides

With all due respect (as I very much appreciate your input on this forum) if you think vet practices get shafted you should try making a living farming livestock - at least you get to set your own charges. Somebody else dictates to us what our output is, hence we need to spend as little as we can on inputs.

Just sayin'

 

[Clive]

Excuse the lack of knowledge here but are vets happy to write prescriptions that you can use elsewhere ?

I guess they have been paid for the call out and diagnosis etc but do they then charge more for the prescription if you say you are going to shop around for the products ?

Again sorry if it’s a daft question , only livestock I have is a dog !

 

[Suffolk Serf]

Excuse the lack of knowledge here but are vets happy to write prescriptions that you can use elsewhere ?

I guess they have been paid for the call out and diagnosis etc but do they then charge more for the prescription if you say you are going to shop around for the products ?

Again sorry if it’s a daft question , only livestock I have is a dog !

I’ve been buying drugs (almost exclusively prescription only vaccines rather than antibiotics) separately from advice for several years now, via a large buying group.
The vet charges a realistic fee for quarterly visits and is a highly valued consultant. He also charges about £16 for prescriptions. However, his practice has often won the annual tender, then he doesn’t charge for scripts.