Wivelliscombe 01984 624422
Welcome to the Farm Animal Department
Our dedicated six person team, with over eighty years combined experience, has a very pro-active approach to production animal medicine. We believe that a combination of good health planning, regular monitoring and preventative medicine is the key to success on the modern farm. Our state of the art equipment and wide range of skills allow us to reduce the impact of disease and help you get the best from your stock
Invest in prevention - Don't pay for the cure
Meet the Farm Animal Team
Graham Byers
Graham Byers is the senior large animal vet at the Mount. He has worked with farmers in the South West for well over 25 years, and has a huge wealth of knowledge in this sector. He has a keen interest in large herd health management, and routinely deals with many large herds in Somerset and Devon.
Alastair Caygill
Alastair Caygill started his career at the Mount back in the 1990s, and has been a large animal partner for several years. His key interest is in herd disease control and Alastair regularly lectures to farmers on key issues such as Bluetongue and Johnes. He claims that the complexities of disease management pale into insignificance however, when compared with trying to control his herd of three young children!
Piers Pepperell
Piers Pepperell has been with the Mount for over a decade and became a partner in 2008. His whole herd “from field to yield “approach has led to many major successes on a range of farms, big and small, organic and conventional. He also bakes a very good cake!
David Balch
David Balch came to England on a 2 year sabbatical, from Australia, back in 2001. After 5 years in Ledbury, he married the receptionist and moved down to the Mount to specialise in cattle medicine and surgery. 10 years on, his sabbatical shows no signs of ending and he now claims to always support England, unless they’re playing against Australia!
Rob Mangham
Robert Mangham joined us from Bristol University where he was one of the flying stars, both in the Veterinary School and on the rugby pitch, where he captained Bristol University's 1st XV. He has had a keen interest in farm work from an early stage and we are very pleased to have him as part of the team. No doubt the Wellington rugby club will be pleased to have him too!
Pete Sanders
Pete Sanders is our regular TB Tester. He has retired from full time large animal practice, having spent the best part of the last twenty years as a partner in a large practice in Towcester.
His wealth of experience in working with cattle means he has a relaxed manner during the tests which helps to keep the animals calm and ensure things go smoothly.
Alastair Winearls
Alastair Winearls joins us after three years cutting his teeth as a mixed vet in rural Somerset. He has always wanted to specialise in cattle work and we are very pleased to have been able to offer him an assistants post. When not vetting he is a keen sea kayaker and fisherman, which is probably the only thing he could do to make himself smell worse than after a hard days work with the cows!