Vet call out charges

Farmer Fin

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Aberdeenshire
whoa you steady on thats not what i'm saying and it s not me who is having the issues so wind your neck in . vets are entitled to get payed for what they are worth but the service you get isn't always that great and waiting times for an injured animal can be ridiculous if a vet has to travel a great distance this all ads up to suffering I suppose you think that people with poor vet coverage should stop keeping animals
Sorry but I just re read your post. Can you clarify what you mean as you appear to say vets just care about money and not welfare? (Yet to see a farm practice that pre charges clients as standard)
 
As far as vet bills go,it is a bit of a lottery though isn't it? My spaniel jumped a barbed fence and gashed her belly open about six inches long. Old vet numbed it and stitched her up,the bill was £20. New neighbours dog jumped one of our fences chasing a ball last week and did the same thing but only half the cut. New vet insisted on full anaesthesia etc .......£250
£250 seems reasonable as a local small animal only vet would charge considerably more
 
Please remember when you moan about vet fees that the country is short of vets and large animal vets are becoming a challenge to recruit in particular. This is unlikely to change in the future as 80% of vet graduates are women and with that comes maternity leave, part-time working etc. Also for prospective students, those with the required level of academic qualifications nowadays inexplicably find alternative, better renumerated careers more attractive than getting up in the middle of the night to get covered in blood and s5ite.

On top of all this, the last salary survey I saw had pay coming back by £1000/year. If I had my time again, I wouldn't be a vet.
 

Farmer Fin

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Aberdeenshire
just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean its not happening
True although I can guarantee it’s the minority that are acting that way. Without offending you and I’m sure it’s not the case with you but that sort of practice is normally restricted to the bad debtors and even then it was normally a case of clear you debt before a vet attends.
Anyhow I’m off to try and drill some OSR and lose money that way.
 
Sorry but I just re read your post. Can you clarify what you mean as you appear to say vets just care about money and not welfare? (Yet to see a farm practice that pre charges clients as standard)
I thought there is a rule where an animal cannot be left to suffer and has to be treated even if the owner has not paid vet for many years
 

roscoe erf

Member
Livestock Farmer
Sorry but I just re read your post. Can you clarify what you mean as you appear to say vets just care about money and not welfare? (Yet to see a farm practice that pre charges clients as standard)
Dropping large animals to concentrate on the bigger profits of small animal knowing full well there is no coverage for many miles does seem to be about profit and not welfare does it not
 

roscoe erf

Member
Livestock Farmer
True although I can guarantee it’s the minority that are acting that way. Without offending you and I’m sure it’s not the case with you but that sort of practice is normally restricted to the bad debtors and even then it was normally a case of clear you debt before a vet attends.
Anyhow I’m off to try and drill some OSR and lose money that way.
Once again it’s not me my vets are great and charge accordingly but not at ridiculous prices that some seem to find acceptable
 
As long as she goes onto do large animals, not another Vet into the urban pet market!! ;)
It'll be false economy by the time we have ended up subbing student fees but there could be a "wooly or must have horns" clause in our agreement! Hell she could still change her mind and work in Aldi.
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Please remember when you moan about vet fees that the country is short of vets and large animal vets are becoming a challenge to recruit in particular. This is unlikely to change in the future as 80% of vet graduates are women and with that comes maternity leave, part-time working etc. Also for prospective students, those with the required level of academic qualifications nowadays inexplicably find alternative, better renumerated careers more attractive than getting up in the middle of the night to get covered in blood and s5ite.

On top of all this, the last salary survey I saw had pay coming back by £1000/year. If I had my time again, I wouldn't be a vet.

If I had my time again, I would probably be a vet, to the extent that I did consider going into it as a mature student a few years back. I find large animal care frustrating, challenging and fascinating and have already spent much of my life getting covered in blood and sh*te at all hours anyway.

I am very lucky to have a vet practice at the end of the road. One partner is an enthusiastic sheep specialist, the other is an old school experienced vet who has been there and seen just about everything in his time, and they have a steady stream of very able young vets that are keen on large animal work. It helps that they are realistic with drug prices too, preferring to get a small margin on a sale, rather than a huge margin on no sales.
 
We give up caesareans on sheep a long time ago because of cost
Several years ago I took ewe that could not lamb and to vet and Tina a very attractive lady from Cumbria said it would have to be Caesar my reply was don't bother just shoot her , she said that there could be 2 good lambs
I said it will take 2 good lambs and more to pay for caesarean
For many years around lambing time there would be queues of vehicles at vet but not so much in recent years
 

MRT

Member
Livestock Farmer
whoa you steady on thats not what i'm saying and it s not me who is having the issues so wind your neck in . vets are entitled to get payed for what they are worth but the service you get isn't always that great and waiting times for an injured animal can be ridiculous if a vet has to travel a great distance this all ads up to suffering I suppose you think that people with poor vet coverage should stop keeping animals
No, but possibly this should be discussed at annual herd health plan time and a policy put in place to mitigate eg. shoot animals with broken legs out of hours etc
 

Steevo

Member
Location
Gloucestershire
Vets are cheap!

£50 callout here to get someone to look at an electric cooker that had packed up-pay when you make the call. Guy turns up 4 days later, 2 minutes and says "It's an electrical problem, you'll need to call a leccy as I'm not qualified to do electrics"

:banghead:

Part of the trouble here is too many people are distanced from their charged out rate. I asked a dealer mechanic the other day what his hourly rate was - he didn't give me answer. Whether he knew or not I never found out, or whether he just didn't want to disclose.

If I was charging out to the customer at whatever rate, I'd be sure that I provided value for money in one form or another.

"Not my problem" seems to be a growing culture.
 

MRT

Member
Livestock Farmer
I did consider going into it as a mature student a few years back.
Probably by now it would cost you £25,000 a year in fees (it was £15,000 plus back in 2005) then you have to pay to live so call it £30,000 a year. £150,000 plus 5 years of your life to be able to row the ship in chains instead of steer it?
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
We give up caesareans on sheep a long time ago because of cost
Several years ago I took ewe that could not lamb and to vet and Tina a very attractive lady from Cumbria said it would have to be Caesar my reply was don't bother just shoot her , she said that there could be 2 good lambs
I said it will take 2 good lambs and more to pay for caesarean
For many years around lambing time there would be queues of vehicles at vet but not so much in recent years

If the lambs are alive and viable, it’s fairly simple to get them out alive if you shoot the ewe. I would rarely spend the money on a CS either, as the best outcome is a cull ewe and some lambs that she may, or may not, be fit to rear. It’s a simple economic decision, but try not to have that need shooting either.

Our vets always seem to have plenty going in to be lambed during March, and I might take one in occasionally if I need some tiny hands, at a cost of about £30. Other than that, I’m experienced enough to know that if I can’t achieve a good outcome, I very much doubt a vet could either (without a CS).
 
Mine has increased their prices it's £28 standard call out not forgetting the ridiculous extra of £45 extra for out of hours sat afternoon/sunday but £1.93 a minute seems a bit ridiculous from.when they arrive on yard till when they go and mess about looking for things in their van..Had two ridiculous bills lately for minor work where it's been worth more than the cow..Defo not gonna call one out in a hurry!
 

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