The Team

The vets in the FVS team spend most of their time out on farms. However, they may also be found at our Melton branch on King's Road, at Langton Garden Centre in Market Harborough, Rutland Veterinary Centre in Uppingham or our new Lutterworth branch.

Our Vets

Mike Thorne

Director / Veterinary Surgeon

Mike Thorne BVSc CertCHP MRCVS - Director / Veterinary Surgeon

Originally from Zimbabwe, Mike began working in the UK at a vet practice in Shropshire, before joining one of the major animal health companies as a cattle veterinary adviser. In 2005, he returned to practice and set up Farm Vet Solutions. Mike specialises in dairying and holds the RCVS Certificate in Cattle Health and Production.

Mike, (along with Andrew Moss) also holds a helicopter pilot’s licence, and can make some client visits or emergency call-outs, by air.

Mike is now spending parts of the year in Zimbabwe, working with a local vet practice near Victoria Falls.

Andrew Moss (Mossy)

Director / Veterinary Surgeon

Andrew Moss (Mossy) - Director / Veterinary Surgeon

Mossy graduated from Reading University in 2002 with a BSc in Land Management, before heading north to Liverpool to complete a BVSc, graduating in 2009. After growing up in Berkshire, Mossy now lives in Uppingham, and enjoys the cattle side of the practice, especially the medicine and surgery.

Mossy, like Mike Thorne, has a helicopter pilot’s licence and makes some of his client visits, or emergency call-outs, by air.

A keen motorcyclist, Andrew has travelled all over Europe on his beloved two wheels.

Henry Dove

Director / Veterinary Surgeon

Henry Dove - Director / Veterinary Surgeon

Henry grew up in Leicestershire and, on graduating from the Royal Vet College in London in 2007, he moved back to work at FVS. He is involved with both small and large animal work. He is especially interested in exotic animals and his patient list includes camelids and reindeer. Henry has several horses and spends his free time eventing around the country.

Max Hardy

Director / Veterinary Surgeon

Max Hardy - Director / Veterinary Surgeon

Max graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2006, then moved back to Nottinghamshire to work as a large animal vet until 2012. During this time he was responsible for a separate game bird and poultry practice covering the Eastern counties.

Max moved to Devon in 2012 to lead a brand new large animal practice, working out of a large agri-retail store. He returned to the East Midlands in July 2015 to join FVS as a full-time farm vet based at the Melton branch. His interests are across all aspects of dairy, beef and sheep health, as well as game birds.

Any free time is generally spent running his farm shoot and having a few games of cricket in the summer.

Alvaro Minguez Rico

Veterinary Surgeon

Alvaro Minguez Rico - Veterinary Surgeon

Born in Valladolid, Alvaro studied at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and graduated as a vet in 2013.

Having already spent time with dairy and pig vets in Spain, he then moved to the UK to pursue his interest in working with farm animals. He joined the FVS team in March 2014 as a part-time TB tester also working with another XLVets practice.

In January of 2015, Alvaro took up a full time role at FVS. He now also carries out clinical work on farms, in addition to TB testing.

Alvaro is interested in all aspects of cattle veterinary work, particularly medicine and nutrition.

Alvaro used to play lots of football, rugby and tennis, but now just plays a bit of football! He also enjoys travel: exploring new places and meeting people from other cultures.

Chris Watton

Lutterworth Branch Manager/Veterinary Surgeon

Chris Watton - Lutterworth Branch Manager/Veterinary Surgeon

Chris graduated from The London Vet College in 2015 and worked as a large animal vet in Staffordshire before joining FVS in June 2018.

Chris enjoys all aspects of large animal work and has a particular interest in fertility, lameness and genetics. He is trained in Clarifide® genomics and also embryo transfer.

Outside of work, Chris spends most of his time showing his Aberdeen Angus cows and attending to his flock of Soay and Boreray sheep.

Freddie Watchorn

Veterinary Surgeon

Freddie Watchorn - Veterinary Surgeon

Freddie graduated from the University of Nottingham and has been with FVS since September 2019.

Freddie grew up on a family dairy, and now beef, farm in Nottinghamshire, and enjoys all aspects of large animal work, especially herd health planning.

Outside of work, Freddie spends time helping on the family farm but also enjoys travelling to new places and playing sport, including football and cycling.

Jorge Robayna

Veterinary Surgeon

Jorge Robayna - Veterinary Surgeon

Originally from the Canary Islands, Jorge also known as George, studied at the Alfonso X in Madrid and graduated as a vet in 2016.

Having completed his degree, he moved to the UK, attracted by English rural life! He joined the FVS team as a TB tester in March 2017.

Outside of work, Jorge enjoys martial arts, climbing and spear-fishing. Like Andrew Moss, he is a huge fan of motorbikes and rides as much as he can.

Zoe Hebblethwaite

Veterinary Surgeon

Zoe Hebblethwaite - Veterinary Surgeon

Zoe graduated from Bristol University, and has been working with the FVS team since August 2017.

Zoe is interested in all aspects of veterinary practice - working with both farm and small animal clients. She has a soft spot for water buffalo having previously worked on a buffalo dairy unit.

Outside of work she enjoys running, travelling, and attending music festivals.

Rebecca Davenport

Veterinary Surgeon

Rebecca Davenport - Veterinary Surgeon

Rebecca graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2014 and worked for 2 years as a farm animal vet down in West Sussex. After a brief interlude spent travelling in America and Canada, she joined the practice as a mixed animal vet in January 2017. She has a key interest in sheep medicine and flock health.

Outside of work, Becca enjoys attempting any sport, particularly tennis and cycling.

Andrew Thomas

Veterinary Surgeon

Andrew Thomas - Veterinary Surgeon

Andrew graduated from Bristol University, and has been working with the FVS team since August 2019.

Andrew grew up on a mixed farm with dairy, beef and sheep. So although he is interested in all aspects of veterinary practice, his heart has always been in large animal work, genetics in particular.

Outside of work, Andrew spends most of his time showing his family’s Holstein and Guernsey dairy cattle as well as Charollais sheep. He also enjoys playing rugby and squash, and swimming.

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Emil Vaetus

Veterinary Surgeon

Emil Vaetus - Veterinary Surgeon

Emil qualified as a veterinary surgeon in 2010 in the city of Bucharest at USAMV University in Romania. He then worked in a slaughterhouse as a meat inspector and also as a pig pathologist for 2 years. In November 2017, he joined FVS.

Emil is one of our TB testers and has a keen interest in everything large animal.

When he is not TB-testing, Emil enjoys walking and camping in the countryside, photography, and riding his motor-cycle.

Bogdan Terciu

Veterinary Surgeon

Bogdan Terciu - Veterinary Surgeon

Bogdan qualified as a veterinary surgeon in 2015, at USAMV University in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

After working in an abattoir as a meat inspector for 9 months, Bogdan moved to a large animal farm practice near Hull and became a TB tester.

He joined the TB testing team at Farm Veterinary Solutions in October 2018. Bogdan has a keen interest in farm veterinary medicine and is enjoying the opportunities to expand his clinical skills with FVS.

When he is not working, Bogdan spends his time at the gym, walking his Sharpei Blaky, and he also enjoys visiting new places, especially those in the English countryside.

Our Farm Support Team

Nick Watson

Farm Practice Manager

Nick Watson - Farm Practice Manager

Nick joined FVS at the start of 2020 when he took up the new position of farm practice manager.

Nick was born in south Leicestershire and has developed a passion for livestock after working on local farms. He has spent the past seven years working in the bovine genetics and AI industry, primarily in the daily management of reproductive performance across herds in the East Midlands.

In his spare time, Nick enjoys spending time at his smallholding with his family, shooting and playing the odd game of rugby for Market Harborough.

Kirstie Griffiths

Pharmacy Co-ordinator

Kirstie Griffiths - Pharmacy Co-ordinator

Kirstie originally joined Rutland Veterinary Centre in 2004, as a small animal veterinary nurse. However, over time, she has become more involved with supporting the farm vets and FVS.

She now manages the farm team overseeing the diaries for the TB tests and routine farm visits, as well as making the medicines orders, etc.

She is also PA to the director, Mike Thorne, for her sins!

Kirstie prefers to spend her spare time outdoors, exploring new places with her family. She also lives with 5 pedigree cats and 2 dogs.

Robyn Oram

Farm Vet Tech

Robyn Oram - Farm Vet Tech

Robyn qualified from Hartpury College in Gloucestershire in 2013 with a BSc Hons degree in Bio-Veterinary Science. She joined Rutland Veterinary Centre in October 2015 as a Veterinary Support Assistant, before moving to the large animal team in February 2016.

Robyn works alongside the vets as our Farm Vet Tech. This role includes mobility scoring, faecal egg counts, blood sampling, barren ewe blood checks as well as body condition scoring. When she is not out on farm you will find her in the office, organising the vet diaries, taking drug orders and booking in TB tests.

Robyn spends her spare time with her two ponies and walking her collie dog.

Rowena Smith

Farm Animal Receptionist

Rowena Smith - Farm Animal Receptionist

Rowena originally joined Rutland Veterinary in 2012, as a receptionist. However, since then she has become more involved with supporting the FVS team, gaining further knowledge of livestock farming, along the way.

Rowena now supports the farm vets, organising their diaries for routine fertility visits, flock/herd health visits, and general farm visits. She also organises the deliveries of medicines onto farms.

Rowena spends her spare time outdoors with her family, camping and exploring new places.

Vicky Fowler

TB Co-ordinator

Vicky Fowler - TB Co-ordinator

Vicky works 5 mornings a week as the TB co-ordinator. Her main responsibilities are organising TB visits, keeping APHA paperwork up-to-date and speaking with XLFarmcare.

When Vicky’s not at work she enjoys spending time with her toddler and two dogs.

Lauren Handley

Farm Animal Receptionist

Lauren Handley - Farm Animal Receptionist

Lauren joined the Farm Team as a full-time receptionist in November 2018.

Prior to this she worked for a distribution company selling pet products.

In her spare time, Lauren enjoys walking her 3 dogs and spending time with her family.

Sophie Harris

Farm Receptionist

Sophie Harris - Farm Receptionist

Sophie first began working for the Rutland Vets group in 2018, starting off as a receptionist for the small animal practices at Kings’ Vets in Melton, and Rutland Vets in Uppingham. She moved over to work in the FVS team in January 2020.

Sophie’s previous jobs have included working on a racehorse yard and manning the out-of-hours switchboard for a small animal vet group.

Outside of work, Sophie regularly competes with her horses in dressage, showjumping and team-chasing competitions. She also has 3 working Labrador gun dogs, and a young family.

Emily Cox

Farm Receptionist (Lutterworth branch)

Emily Cox - Farm Receptionist (Lutterworth branch)

Emily joined Farm Vet Solutions in January 2020, to take up the role of receptionist at our new Lutterworth branch. She previously worked for a mixed animal vet practice, and so already has a good understanding of farm animal practice.

In her spare time, Emily enjoys hacking out on her horse, and looking after her dogs: 2 boxers and a Yorkshire terrier.

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The Team

Our Vets

Mike Thorne

Director / Veterinary Surgeon

Andrew Moss (Mossy)

Director / Veterinary Surgeon

Henry Dove

Director / Veterinary Surgeon

Max Hardy

Director / Veterinary Surgeon

Alvaro Minguez Rico

Veterinary Surgeon

Chris Watton

Lutterworth Branch Manager/Veterinary Surgeon

Freddie Watchorn

Veterinary Surgeon

Jorge Robayna

Veterinary Surgeon

Zoe Hebblethwaite

Veterinary Surgeon

Rebecca Davenport

Veterinary Surgeon

Andrew Thomas

Veterinary Surgeon

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Emil Vaetus

Veterinary Surgeon

Bogdan Terciu

Veterinary Surgeon

Our Farm Support Team

Nick Watson

Farm Practice Manager

Kirstie Griffiths

Pharmacy Co-ordinator

Robyn Oram

Farm Vet Tech

Rowena Smith

Farm Animal Receptionist

Vicky Fowler

TB Co-ordinator

Lauren Handley

Farm Animal Receptionist

Sophie Harris

Farm Receptionist

Emily Cox

Farm Receptionist (Lutterworth branch)