Small-scale Donegal farmers have expressed their dismay at what they describe as the “callous” actions of Independent Vetcare (IVC) for leaving them without a service while “cherry-picking” larger, more profitable farms.

Donegal Animal Hospital entered into a lease with IVC in January, but IVC announced without warning that it was closing the practice permanently at the end of August.

Large-scale farmers

The Irish Farmers Journal has learned that IVC sent letters to large-scale farmers in Donegal offering to service them through its Derry practice, while smaller scale farmers have not received the same offer and have been left feeling abandoned by the practice.

“No other practice will come to us because we’re so remote,” one farmer from the northwest of the county said.

“We feel abandoned and believe it is callous cherry-picking by the vet company.”

The closure has also had a knock-on effect on TB testing, with the Department of Agriculture confirming that it will be stepping in to cover the cost of tests and conduct retests, as farmers’ results were not uploaded to the Department’s system by IVC before it closed the practice.

Trackers

The farmer told this newspaper that when IVC took over Donegal Animal Hospital last spring, it appeared to place a strict time limit on the duration of a vet’s visit on farms.

“We had to call the vet out for a caesarean on a cow,” the farmer said. “The office rang back and told us to wash and shave the cow to speed the job up for the vet. That had never happened before.”

The Irish Farmers Journal has learned that IVC fitted vets’ vehicles with trackers to monitor how long they spent on each job.

This newspaper asked IVC to comment on the revelations, but it had not responded at the time of going to print.

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