A POPULAR farm veterinary practice based in Shap is expanding and will be offering its services to new clients south to Kendal.

Tarn Farm Vets was launched single-handed by Ben Dustan six years ago. It has proved so successful Ben has now moved the practice into larger premises and is bringing new vets into the business so that he can meet demand.

“It’s a really exciting time being able to expand and take on new work and provide the service we believe in, to more clients,” says Ben.

Tarn Farm Vets is known for its personal service and for only charging farmers for the time the vet spends on the farm; there are no additional call-out fees.“When I set up the practice, I didn’t want to be part of another big corporate practice,” explains Ben, who grew up on a dairy farm in Somerset and is also honorary secretary of the Goat Veterinary Society.

“We concentrate on the client-vet relationship and building up that trust. We really value being able to offer the continuity of seeing the same vet time and again.“We know our farms and we know what’s going on, and we will work with the farmer to get things sorted and move forward.”

Two vets who have worked on a locum basis with Tarn Farm Vets will increase their hours. They are Gemma Chaters from Kendal and Gemma Dobson from Appleby.

In addition, Tarn Farm will be supported by Paragon Veterinary Group’s farm vet team at Newbiggin, including sharing an out-of-hours rota.“I have worked with the Paragon team over the past couple of years and we are very aligned in our thinking, so this is a natural progression,” said Ben.