About | Farm First Vets

Veterinary Staff

B Vet Med MRCVS - Director

Rob qualified from the Royal Veterinary College London in 1988. He spent his first 5 years traveling the length and breadth of Britain looking for a job he liked. He eventually decided to settle in his home area of Abergavenny and in 1993 joined Abbey Vets.

In 2008 he demerged the farm side of
Abbey Vets to set up Farm First Veterinary Services. Rob’s veterinary interests are fertility work (including bull and ram fertility), infectious diseases and nutrition. Much of his work time is now taken up by his role on the Iechyd Da board.

In his spare time, Rob enjoys travel, running and pottering about on his 30 acres
pretending to be a farmer!

B Vet Med MRCVS - Director

Jane grew up in Carmarthen and qualified from the Royal Veterinary College, London in 1990. Since then she has worked in predominantly farm animal practices, mostly close to the river Usk, including 6 years at Abbey Vets. In 2005 she joined the VLA, investigating and diagnosing disease in farm animals, but decided to return to farm practice in 2009 and came back to work with Rob at Farm First.

Since then she has joined Rob as one of the directors of the practice. Jane is a DairyCo mastitis plan deliverer and is interested in fertility work and infectious disease control.

In her spare time, Jane enjoys riding her 2 horses, and competes in a sport called Le Trec, also
known as “getting lost on horseback”. Other interests include walking and playing the violin
in the local orchestra.

BVMS MRCVS - Director

Vicki graduated from the University of Glasgow Vet School in 2011 and has worked at Farm
First ever since and in 2021 became a director. She comes from a family run farm in the
South-West of Scotland where they have dairy, sheep and also produce beef suckler heifers.

Vicki is keen in all aspects of farm animal veterinary work but is particularly interested in
sheep health and production, calf health and has discovered a real joy in working with
camelids.

When she is not at work she can be found riding her horse Bronwen or walking her dog Gin
(named after another favourite activity!). She is expecting her first baby in November so you
might find her in the office a little more than normal until then!

BVSc MRCVS - Veterinary Surgeon

Born and bred on a family-run hill farm in Hirwaun, Mid Glamorgan. Eleri graduated from

the University of Bristol in 2011 and worked as a mixed vet in Monmouth and Neath, before

starting at Farm First in January 2021 to pursue a farm-only position. She must enjoy it

because in September 2022 she joined Rob, Jane and Vicki as a director.

She enjoys all aspects of farm veterinary work but is especially keen on the dairy side (the

fool). Her interests include fertility work, infectious disease control, surgery, wound

management and cattle lameness – she is an

AHDB Healthy Feet accredited Mobility Mentor

and has run LANTRA training courses

on foot trimming.

In her spare time, you will usually find Eleri at farming home, where she and husband Tom

keep a flock of pedigree Texel sheep. She also enjoys exploring the local countryside with

Rick the huntaway, baking and hoovering.

MA VetMB MRCVS - Veterinary Surgeon

Hilary qualified from Cambridge in 1994 and has been found vetting around the Monmouthshire countryside ever since. She joined Farm First in 2020 from Usk Vets and has enjoyed being able to focus fully on farm practice.

She has a particular interest in preventative health care and medicine of sheep and sucklers
and has been a long-term member of the Sheep Veterinary Society and NSA. As part of the
comedy sheep duo, she enjoys running farmer meetings and promoting sheep initiatives.

Besides sheep and beef farming and ferrying teenagers around in her spare time, she enjoys
gardening, walking and pilates.

BA Vet MB MRCVS - Veterinary Surgeon

Constance, the slightly younger of the comedy sheep duo, graduated from Cambridge Vet School in 2018. Hailing from South Pembrokeshire, the move to Monmouthshire was a welcome return to Wales. After two years as a mixed vet in Usk, she took the opportunity to pursue full time farm animal vetting at Farm First Vets in August 2020. She has thoroughly enjoyed the move and enjoys (almost!) all aspects of the job, but has a particular interest in small ruminants and camelids, with a soft spot for goats!

Outside of work her life is mostly ruled by the ever growing menagerie of Spaniels, cats, chicken and ducks! Not helped by her habit of taking on waifs and strays. And when they all get too much, she goes and helps on farms in her spare time, because is there such a thing as too much time spent with sheep?!

BVM BVS MRCVS - Veterinary Surgeon

Lucy qualified from the University of Nottingham in July 2020. Studying agriculture at
college and working on a sheep and beef farm in her home county of Hampshire gave her
the passion to apply for Vet School. She enjoys the variation of farm animal work,
particularly sheep health and production,
and calf health.

Outside of work Lucy enjoys travelling, visiting friends, kayaking, hiking and rugby.

BSc (Hons) BVSc MRCVS

Beth qualified from Liverpool in 2021. She
started her working life in Gloucestershire, whereshe developed an interest in dairy
health and production. However, as a local, she felt the need to return to the better side of the border and started at Farm First in June.

In her free time she enjoys helping her other half on the farm and cycling in the Forest.

BSc (Hons) BVetMed MCCVS

Clara graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in London in 2021 after having
completed an undergraduate degree in biological sciences in Belfast. She continued her studies with an internship in Dorset before coming to Farm First in 2023. You may find that
her accent is not quite Welsh. Although originally born in Texas, Clara has lived in the UK since starting university in 2013. She enjoys all elements of farm animal medicine but has a particular interest in developing her knowledge and experience in dairy medicine.

Clara loves the outdoors and having a laugh - outside of work she’s often found hiking,
seeing friends, and most importantly, at the pub (her favourite UK custom)

TB Testers

Eleri is our Approved TB Tester. Although she has an Equine Studies degree from

Aberystwyth University, she has since had the good sense to realise cows
are far superior to horses!

Born and bred in Abergavenny, Eleri lives on the family farm where cattle, sheep, horses
and chickens are produced. She is also a relief milker for a local goat farmer and spent
thesummer 2022 working for an
agricultural contractor.

Outside of work Eleri is a keen member

of Abergavenny YFC and Abergavenny Hockey Club. You may come across her stock judging,

flower arranging or generally tearing it up
on the hockey field and in the pub.

Natasha grew up in North Devon and Cornwall and has lived there all her life, other than when she briefly lived in Warwickshire.

Although not from a farming family, she has always milked and had a huge interest in farming from a young age.

Outside of work, Natasha enjoys competing in dressage and also playing rugby.

Office Staff

Office/Financial Manager

Natalie is a local farmer’s daughter who has been putting up with Rob since Farm First

began! Natalie is our Office Manager, with a very wide-ranging job description, who enjoys

the busy day to day running of the practice as well as looking after the pennies!

Outside of work she enjoys regularly competing and hunting her horses but has diversified

into showing Badger Faced sheep with her partner David. Natalie can also be found in the

ring at the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show stewarding the horse sections.

TB Coordinator

Tracy joined Farm First Vets in February 2010. Along with reception and admin duties Tracy

is our (very patient) TB Administrator dealing with the TB Testing and liaising
closely with APHA.

Outside of work Tracy enjoys spending time with her partner Wayne and their daughter

Carys, and occasionally enjoying a cider... They have a small stud breeding Welsh Ponies of Cob Type (Section Cs) which they show successfully at county level.

They also keep a flock of

South Welsh Mountain and Badger Faced Sheep which Carys enjoys showing locally.

Receptionist / Vet Tech

Elinor joined the team in 2015 with an interest in farm animals. Elinor's job role at Farm First is mainly organising the pharmacy and in-house lab work, however she is also trained as a Vet Tech, which enables her to go out on farm to help vets with operations and calf tracker.

She is also ROMS registered which enables her to do Mobility Scoring out on farm.

Outside of work she enjoys agility and scent work with her spaniel, walking her dogs, hacking her horse and adventures on her paddleboard.

Receptionist

Emily joined the practice as a receptionist in January 2020. As a farmers daughter, she has lots of experience of the farming industry although she much prefers horses! Additionally she has a degree in Equine Therapies and Rehabilitation, and is also a fully qualified Equine Sports and Remedial Massage therapist.

In her spare time Emily enjoys riding and competing her horses and going to the gym.

Receptionist/Administrator

Jess joined the Farm First team in
November 2021 after a few years spent in retail.

Outside of work she runs a flock of pedigree Dutch Spotted and Texel sheep alongside a small commercial flock.

In her spare time Jess hunts her horse, is a member of the local Young Farmers and, when time allows, she can be found out running with her four-legged friend, Albert.

Receptionist/Administrator

Lauren joined the office in May 2022 with
plenty of agricultural and administrative

experience gained in her previous role. You’ll find her answering the phones and greeting

you at the front desk.

Time away from the practice is spent at Young Farmers, entertaining and training her

working collie dogs Nel and Teg, or running

as she prepares for her first half marathon!

Finance Officer

Angela is our newest recruit, starting as finance officer in summer 2023.
She has a wide range of interests outside work including photography, wine tasting,
swimming and DIY.

Veterinary Staff

BVSc MRCVS - Veterinary Surgeon

Born and bred on a family-run hill farm in Hirwaun, Mid Glamorgan. Eleri graduated from

the University of Bristol in 2011 and worked as a mixed vet in Monmouth and Neath, before

starting at Farm First in January 2021 to pursue a farm-only position. She must enjoy it

because in September 2022 she joined Rob, Jane and Vicki as a director.

She enjoys all aspects of farm veterinary work but is especially keen on the dairy side (the

fool). Her interests include fertility work, infectious disease control, surgery, wound

management and cattle lameness – she is an

AHDB Healthy Feet accredited Mobility Mentor

and has run LANTRA training courses

on foot trimming.

​

In her spare time, you will usually find Eleri at farming home, where she and husband Tom

keep a flock of pedigree Texel sheep. She also enjoys exploring the local countryside with

Rick the huntaway, baking and hoovering.

​

TB Testers

Eleri is our Approved TB Tester. Although she has an Equine Studies degree from

Aberystwyth University, she has since had the good sense to realise cows are far superior to horses!

​

Born and bred in Abergavenny, Eleri lives on the family farm where cattle, sheep, horses and chickens are produced. She is also a relief milker for a local goat farmer and spent thesummer 2022 working for an agricultural contractor.

Outside of work Eleri is a keen member

of Abergavenny YFC and Abergavenny Hockey Club. You may come across her stock judging,

flower arranging or generally tearing it up on the hockey field and in the pub.

Office Staff

Office/Financial Manager

Natalie is a local farmer’s daughter who has been putting up with Rob since Farm First

began! Natalie is our Office Manager, with a very wide-ranging job description, who enjoys

the busy day to day running of the practice as well as looking after the pennies!

Outside of work she enjoys regularly competing and hunting her horses but has diversified

into showing Badger Faced sheep with her partner David. Natalie can also be found in the

ring at the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show stewarding the horse sections.

TB Coordinator

Tracy joined Farm First Vets in February 2010. Along with reception and admin duties Tracy

is our (very patient) TB Administrator dealing with the TB Testing and liaising closely with APHA.

​

Outside of work Tracy enjoys spending time with her partner Wayne and their daughter

Carys, and occasionally enjoying a cider... They have a small stud breeding Welsh Ponies of Cob Type (Section Cs) which they show successfully at county level.

They also keep a flock of

South Welsh Mountain and Badger Faced Sheep which Carys enjoys showing locally.

Receptionist/Administrator

Jess joined the Farm First team in November 2021 after a few years spent in retail.

Outside of work she runs a flock of pedigree Dutch Spotted and Texel sheep alongside a small commercial flock.

In her spare time Jess hunts her horse, is a member of the local Young Farmers and, when time allows, she can be found out running with her four-legged friend, Albert.

Receptionist/Administrator

Lauren joined the office in May 2022 with plenty of agricultural and administrative

experience gained in her previous role. You’ll find her answering the phones and greeting

you at the front desk.

​

Time away from the practice is spent at Young Farmers, entertaining and training her

working collie dogs Nel and Teg, or running

as she prepares for her first half marathon!

Finance Officer Angela is our newest recruit, starting as finance officer in summer 2023. She has a wide range of interests outside work including photography, wine tasting, swimming and DIY.

Our Team

Aberystwyth University, she has since had the good sense to realise cows
are far superior to horses!

Born and bred in Abergavenny, Eleri lives on the family farm where cattle, sheep, horses
and chickens are produced. She is also a relief milker for a local goat farmer and spent
thesummer 2022 working for an
agricultural contractor.

flower arranging or generally tearing it up
on the hockey field and in the pub.

is our (very patient) TB Administrator dealing with the TB Testing and liaising
closely with APHA.

Jess joined the Farm First team in
November 2021 after a few years spent in retail.

Lauren joined the office in May 2022 with
plenty of agricultural and administrative

Finance Officer

Angela is our newest recruit, starting as finance officer in summer 2023.
She has a wide range of interests outside work including photography, wine tasting,
swimming and DIY.