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Office / 24hr Emergency Service
01873 840167
PROVIDING VETERINARY SERVICES FOR ALL FARM ANIMALS SINCE 2008
Our Team
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!
Robert Smith
rob.smith@farmfirstvets.co.uk
07971 654470
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.
Jane Anscombe
jane.anscombe@farmfirstvets.co.uk
07968 334501
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!).
Vicki Fisher
victoria.fisher@farmfirstvets.co.uk
07837 214004
BVSc MRCVS - Director
Born and bred on a family-run hill farm in Hirwaun, Mid Glamorgan, Eleri graduated from the University of Bristol in 2011. She 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.
Eleri Vaughan
eleri.davies@farmfirstvets.co.uk
07817 252994
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.
Hilary Jones
hilary.jones@farmfirstvets.co.uk
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?!
Constance Lesnianski
constance.lesnianski@farmfirstvets.co.uk
BVM BVS MRCVS - Veterinary Surgeon
Lucy qualified from the University of Nottingham in July 2020. Studying agriculture atcollege and working on a sheep and beef farm in her home county of Hampshire gave herthe 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.
Lucy Chubb
lucy.chubb@farmfirstvets.co.uk
BSc (Hons) BVetMed MCCVS - Veterinary Surgeon
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!)
Clara Valderrama
clara.valderrama@farmfirstvets.co.uk
BVSc MRCVS - Veterinary Surgeon
Charlie qualified from the University of Liverpool in July 2020. She began her career as a farm vet in West Wales returning home to Abergavenny after spending some time backpacking across South America between jobs.
Charlie enjoys all aspects of farm work, with interests in beef & dairy fertility and youngstock management. She also loves a challenging lambing!
Outside of work Charlie can be found helping on the family farm, socialising with friends, supporting YFC events and travelling as much as possible.
Charlie Phillips
charlie.phillips@farmfirstvets.co.uk
Approved TB Testers
Eleri Williams
eleri.williams@farmfirstvets.co.uk
Eleri is an Approved TB Tester. Although she has an Equine Studies degree from Aberystwyth University, she has since had the good sense to realise that 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 the summer of 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.
Phoebe grew up on her family's dairy farm and studied a Level 3 Extended Diploma in Animal Management at Hartpury College.
She previously worked on a local dairy farm and outside of work of work she can be found milking, calf rearing, riding her two horses Liam and Charlie or keeping busy as secretary of Raglan Young Farmers Club.
Phoebe Meadmore
phoebe.meadmore@farmfirstvets.co.uk
Office Staff
Natalie Parsons
natalie.parsons@farmfirstvets.co.uk
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.
Tracy Morris
tracy.morris@farmfirstvets.co.uk
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.
Elinor Bowen
elinor.bowen@farmfirstvets.co.uk
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.
Emily Langford
emily.langford@farmfirstvets.co.uk
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.
Lauren Richards
lauren.richards@farmfirstvets.co.uk
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 joined the team as finance officer in summer 2023.
She has a wide range of interests outside work including photography, wine tasting,
swimming and DIY.
Angela Murray
angela.murray@farmfirstvets.co.uk
Receptionist/Administrator
Rachel is a farmer's daughter and contractor's wife with countless year's expererience working in the dairy industry. She spent a couple of years working in retail before joining us in June 2024.
Outside work, Rachel enjoys gardening, spending time with family and walking her four legged friend Fizz.
Rachel Cook
rachel.cook@farmfirstvets.co.uk
Receptionist/Administrator
Eleanor joined the team in June 2024 having worked in an equine vets.
Outside work Eleanor enjoys drawing pet portraits, spending time with family, playing the piano and looking after her dogs and chickens.
Eleanor Werrett
eleanor.werrett@farmfirstvets.co.uk
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