The MacVet Podcast

Wondering what to expect from this podcast? Listen in to this brief introduction from creator Fiona MacGillivray.

Giovanni Gnemmi is a world-renowned expert in bovine ultrasonography, sharing the knowledge he has acquired over 30 years with veterinarians and farm workers around the globe. He is professor of bovine reproduction at the University of Valencia, Spain, where he is also an active researcher in this field. Giovanni clearly has a passion for what he does; from a young age he was determined to become...

Alison Blackler is an international mind coach with first-hand experience of the importance of achieving self-confidence and self-awareness; prior to becoming a coach, her severe lack of confidence impacted her life every day, affecting her work and relationships. Today, she helps others to understand themselves, sharing useful tools to develop their own confidence and guiding them to positive cha...

Nikki Yoxall is passionate about helping bring about change in farming practices through understanding and partnership. She has a background in education, training and horses, and was excited when the opportunity arose to add farming to her daily life, setting up Grampian Graziers with her husband James in Aberdeenshire, UK. Nikki’s work is focused on agroecological transitions, understanding farm...

Taking a rather circuitous route through different companies and roles in communications led Patrick Donohoe to his current role as director of communications and corporate affairs with Lakeland Dairies, a dairy processing co-operative based in Ireland, with customers in 70 countries across the world. One of his recent roles was working as an advisor to the Irish minister for agriculture, food and...

Understanding people and what motivates them is a key skill that Karen Halton possesses. One of the ways she has demonstrated this is to create the 'wall of words' with her farm team. Everyone was asked to come up with one word that summed up how they feel about the industry or working on the farm. Those words were then printed and posted on the milking parlour wall, acting as a powerful r...

Becoming the passionate and inspirational dairy farmer she is today seems to have been Karen Halton's destiny, as was marrying her teenage sweetheart, Tom. Central to everything in her farming life are the cows; Karen, Tom, and the team strive to provide an environment that achieves high welfare for the cows and calves. Having the opportunity to look round with Karen before our conversation, it wa...

Joe Navarro is an international bestselling author, having published 14 books including the world number 1 book on body language, What Every BODY Is Saying. He began studying human behaviour as a boy, having fled to the US with his family from Cuba in the 1960s, and continued to build his skills and insight during his 25 years working as a special agent for the FBI.  In this episode, Joe talks abo...

Former FBI special agent Joe Navarro interviewed a wide range of people during his career - including bank robbers, kidnappers and spies – which provided a special opportunity to observe people and study their body language. Since retiring after 25 years in the FBI, he has shared those observations in his best-selling books, through public speaking and delivering training courses.   In this episod...

Temple Grandin has worked in the livestock industry for over 50 years and has been instrumental in improving animal welfare around the world, through her work in cattle handling design and as an animal behaviourist and academic. She is professor of animal science at Colorado State University, USA and has authored more than 400 articles in scientific journals and livestock publications on animal ha...

Dairy farmer Sophie Gregory strongly believes that anyone with a passion to farm can work in this industry. This belief is a testament to her own journey, from accountancy to becoming a first generation farmer alongside her husband Tom. Sophie shares her experiences through her popular social media accounts @farmer_in_training and @sophieaplin, to help people understand what goes into making a pin...

During his career, retired veterinarian Derek Armstrong worked to improve the control of endemic diseases in cattle and pigs. He grew up on a small farm in Ireland, with initial interests in engineering and agriculture superseded by a degree in veterinary. Moving from roles in clinical practice and research, Derek became lead veterinary science expert with the Agriculture and Horticulture Developm...

Udder health specialist and prolific author Theo Lam is manager of Research and Development at GD Animal Health in the Netherlands. He is also part-time professor at Utrecht University. Theo worked in veterinary practice for 10 years but it wasn’t until he moved out of clinical work, and into research, that he started to appreciate the significance of communication for vets working with farmers to...

Marcelle Malan is an accredited exercise physiologist, working in Melbourne, Australia - the coffee capital of the world. She has a special interest in female physiology and menopause, promoting a better understanding of the female body in and through exercise science and medicine. Sharing her expertise in this area, Marcelle runs novel educational trainings for health and fitness professionals fr...

Journalist Rachael Porter decided that writing for and about dairy farmers was something that would make a difference. She has been the editor Cow Management (a technical magazine for progressive dairy farmers) for 20 years. As someone who relishes new challenges, she was excited to recently take on the additional responsibility for publishing the magazine with her business partner. In this episod...

Tom Hartley is coaching team lead with the independent charity UK Coaching, an organisation that supports coaches across a broad range of different sports. Having worked around the world in different coaching roles for over 20 years, Tom believes that communication and the relationships lie at the heart of successful coaching. As coaching is a skill also relevant to many different roles outside sp...

Owen Atkinson spends his time making lives better for cows and the people who care for them. After many years working in veterinary practice, he set up his consultancy to provide strategic health advice and tailor-made training to ruminant and dairy agri-businesses. Central to his work is learning how best to communicate with farmers and get positive herd health results from people taking action a...

Dairy farmer Phil Latham will always have a passion for his cows, but now spends more time supporting the development of a strong and growing team of people, by fostering effective communication. Not one to shy away from taking on responsibility for both successes and failures, Phil has also been keen to voice his concerns and opinions on behalf of the farming community. In this episode, Phil talk...

Jude Capper is a livestock sustainability consultant, having worked in the USA before returning to the UK. Her passion for agriculture and ability to create engaging messages around data and science help her connect with her audience, having spoken at numerous events and conferences around the world. In this episode, Jude talks about: being fascinated about what makes us behave the way we do, the...

Stuart Russell is a dairy vet with a passion for making data meaningful. He recognises that the way we communicate about data and information has a huge impact on engagement and interpretation. If some decisions in farming feel like a bit of a gamble, using data can improve the odds. In this episode, Stuart talks about: recognising that something that makes sense to you might not make sense to oth...

James Robinson farms in sunny Cumbria, sharing images of his beautiful herd of Shorthorn cattle on social media and explaining 'what farming actually is' for his avid followers, who range from fellow farmers to people who have never stepped onto a farm in their life. In this episode, James talks about: sharing farm life through social media winning the prestigious Silver Lapwing award in 2...

Amy Jackson has worked in agriculture and farming for over 35 years, specialising in crisis management and public relations support of high profile stories such as horsemeat and 'megafarms'. She recently explored the issues around public perceptions of dairy farming, completing a PhD from the University of Nottingham’s Vet School. In this episode, Amy talks about: creating better connections with...

Tommy The Vet Heffernan admits to having had many failures in his career, yet views this as an opportunity to grow and become more resilient in life. Having been infected by 'the learning bug', he feels his knowledge and efforts to improve his own communication skills mean he is now able to 'leave people in a better place because of my interaction with them'. In this episode, Tommy talks about: th...

Alasdair Moffett (Moff) is a farm animal veterinarian with 'a bit of a running problem' - he won Snowdonia 50 in 2016, an ultra-running event in the beautiful Welsh National Park. Having completed a MSc in International Animal Health whilst still in practice, he has now taken on the role of Landscape Recovery Manager of the Upper Axe Landscape Recovery Project. In this role, Moff is workin...

Hannah Lloyd is a director of Pinstone, an award-winning agri-food rural communications agency. Having grown up on a farm then marrying a farmer, she lives and breathes the agricultural industry and is motivated to help the sector overcome the PR challenges it is so often faced with. In this episode, Hannah talks about: the benefits of media training how to get your message across effectively the...