Mark Bryan (veterinarian)

Mark Bryan is a veterinarian and researcher working in New Zealand. He is a director of VetSouth, one of two clinical research clinics in the South Island and Adjunct Senior Lecturer in Dairy Cattle Medicine at Massey University. In 2013 he was a finalist in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year.
Career.
Bryan qualified as a veterinarian in Glasgow, Scotland in 1988 and worked in intensive dairy practice in the North of England. He moved to Waikato, New Zealand in 1995. In he 2004 gained his Masters in Epidemiology from Massey University in Palmerston North. Bryan moved to New Zealand in 1995 and to his current practice in 1997.
Bryan identified that many rural practices had difficulty in retaining staff. From 1997 when he joined Central Southland Vets in Winton, heading up the dairy side of the practice, to 2001, when he became a director, the practice had doubled in veterinarian numbers and quadrupled in dairy farm numbers. He is the Managing Director of VetSouth. VetSouth was formed in 2005 when the Winton practice joined with a practice in nearby Gore. Creating VetSouth was about elevating rural vet practice with the dual effect of being able to retain the best staff in a rural setting and to ensure that farmers receive first rate veterinary services. The size also makes it possible for the practice to both participate in research and to more readily test new ideas such as improving the measurement of body condition scores (BCS) in dairy cows.
Bryan was aware of the XLvet concept from the UK that bought together the most progressive vet practices working together to provide veterinary services. Bryan brought the concept to New Zealand. With significant resources available, Bryan and VetSouth have been instrumental in developing Welfarm in conjunction with XLvets. Welfarm is a program that measures the wellbeing of dairy cows. In 2014/15 the program ran with 150 farms and 84,325 cows. With these numbers, it is possible now to do accurate benchmarking that should lead to better outcomes for the cows, the farms and the industry. It was planned that the program with the support of the New Zealand Veterinary Association would go national. As of December 2016 the program is still to be implemented.
Bryan's veterinary service created an app called Disease and Mortality Incident Tracker, or dam-iT, to capture disease and mortality data in production animals. This project will provide a baseline of normal mortality rates on NZ farms as there are no national disease statistics. Creation of the app was partly prompted by deaths on HT [herbicide tolerant] swedes and fodder beet in 2014 and following years.
VetSouth has been running the Welfarm pilot for 3 years and have identified the use of antibiotics as an issue to address. The New Zealand Veterinary Association, which Bryan is a board member, has recently announced that they are aiming to phase out the use of non- essential antibiotic usage by 2030.Their strategic intent is that “by 2030, NZ Inc would not need antibiotics for the maintenance of animal health and welfare”.
In 2018 Bryan was active in discussion around the management of Mycoplasma bovis.
Bryan is active in the veterinary and general communities promoting animal welfare and good veterinary practices. He is active in community building and in promoting the welfare of veterinarians in general. He spoke at the 2015 Pan Pacific Veterinary Conference and at the NZ Skeptics Conference in 2016. Bryan will be a Dairy Speaker at the 36th World Veterinary Association Congress in Auckland, New Zealand on 6–8 April 2020.
Publications.
Conference papers.
Bryan, M, E Knupfer, Hea S. (2016). Risk factors and patterns of NSAID use in New Zealand Dairy farms- a pilot survey; Proceedings of the Society of Dairy Cattle Veterinarians Annual Conference, Publisher: VetLearn Foundation