Tom Chamberlain

I am a veterinary surgeon in general practice being the principle cattle vet in a 13 vet practice in the South of England near Southampton. I would define myself as a true bovinophile!

I trained at Bristol University where I learnt computer programming (in Fortran on a main-frame computer) and was introduced to ruminant nutrition and nutritional models by Prof A J F Webster. After graduating from Bristol University I was appointed as a lecturer in Preventitive Medicine. Whilst there I wrote a ration formulation program (in DBase II) as well as dairy cow and pig fertility recording programs. After leaving Bristol I took a post as a cattle vet in general practice and wrote another ration formulation program for beef cattle and sheep on a networked computer using a Unix variant of Basic.

After a time in practice I was appointed Lecturer in Animal Health and Production at Reading University. Whilst there I developed and ran several courses including one entitled 'Feeding the Dairy Cow'. Rumnut arose from this course as I considered that no-one could be expected to apply the 1980's feeding standards using manual calculations. Initially the software was only used for teaching but in 1990 I released a version commercially and this has been developed through five major versions since then. In 1996, in conjunction with Dr J M Wilkinson, I produced a book entitled 'Feeding the Dairy Cow' based on the course notes. The course is still going strong and this year we will hold the 37th course.

After seven years at Reading University I tired of the 'large-organisation' administration and returned to general practice; first in Somerset and finally in the South of England near Southampton. In line with changes in the industry I am progressively working more in conjunction with Stock1st as part of a team of 10 farm animal vets covering Hampshire, Sussex and Surrey.

Over the years I have given numerous lectures and short courses through-out Britain to a wide range of audiences. A full CV can be emailed on request.