Jonathan Hobbs becomes Sheep Veterinary Society president
"It is a huge honour to be elected president of the Sheep Veterinary Society" - Jonathan Hobbs.
The Sheep Veterinary Society has welcomed Jonathan Hobbs as its new president, as part of its Autumn Conference from 28-30 September.
Mr Hobbs’ appointment sees former-president Phillipa Page become senior vice-president, while Rachel Forster joins officials as junior vice-president. Kim Hamer has retired from the committee.
Raised in West Somerset, Mr Hobbs was drawn to large animal veterinary practice at the age of 15. He graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in 2012, before moving to North Park Veterinary Group in Devon as a mixed-species vet.
In 2015, he began to pursue a farm-only career, briefly moving to a predominantly dairy practice in Somerset before returning to North Park as a lead farm vet in 2016.
Mr Hobbs was awarded his Diploma in Bovine Reproduction from the University of Liverpool in 2018, and became director of North Park Veterinary Group in 2019.
He holds a special interest in the endo- and ectoparasites of sheep, since ticks and tick-borne diseases are a significant challenge in his region. Mr Hobbs sits on the Sheep Antibiotic Guardian Group (SAGG), is part of the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway co-design group in England, and regularly presents at national conferences.
Speaking about his presidency, Mr Hobbs said: “It is a huge honour to be elected President of the Sheep Veterinary Society and I hope I can repay the faith that everyone has put in me.
“It will likely be a very busy presidential term, with the outcomes of several consultations due, including tailing and castration in lambs, the potential mandating of the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway in England and the launch of the Ruminant Roadmap due to launch in a few weeks.
“Top of my agenda is to work closely with BVA and BCVA to try and downgrade Bluetongue virus (BTV) within SAPO (Statutory Animal Pathogens Order), so that additional labs will be able to test for BTV and receive submissions from animals that may have BTV, as well as other diseases.
“Without this, we run the risk of missing other endemic diseases, as well as new and emerging diseases such as Shamonda.”
Image © Sheep Veterinary Society
Companies marketing medicines for small pets exempt from authorisation must submit their annual return to the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) by 30 November 2026.
