Agwest Veterinary Group

02/11/2025

Today Agwest is thinking about the hard-working farm families that we have the privilege to work with. Thank-you all for providing our community with nutritious and delicious foods. Thank-you for your trust in Agwest to help with the care of your herds. We are grateful to work along side of you!

02/10/2025

We’re already in beef calving, lambing & kidding season in southwestern BC! The vets at Agwest have already been out for lots of dystocias (difficult births) to assist and C-Sections.

Remembering the 3 stages of labour and the average time of each will let you know how long to wait, when to intervene, and when to call the vet. Getting this right makes all the difference between a good or poor outcome for both the mom & offspring.

Not sure what the right call is? You can always phone your Agwest vet and we’ll help you decide if a vet call appointment is needed.

02/07/2025

BC Dairy farmers - looking for a good discussion on how you and your farm can implement sustainable strategies to support industry growth over the next two years?

Join us next Wednesday, February 12th at the BC Holsteins Herd Management Seminar. Industry experts; Dr. Kee Jim, Dr. Lisa McCrea, and Matt Creechan will be presenting practical, sustainable and affordable strategies that you will be able to implement on your farm to reach growing quota targets and improve farm profitability in the near future.

We look forward to seeing you there!

02/07/2025

Wow, here is some super cool farming history!

Dr. Jackie’s great-great grandparents would be so pleased to see what a great farm this has become and even more pleased to see their great-great granddaughter doing the vet work there.

Here's a little throwback to the 1940s! 🐄

Way back when, the Inglebright family set their roots here at 4590 Koksilah Rd, transforming dense forest into lush, productive grassland for hay and dairy farming.

The timber from that forest built their cozy home and the iconic hip-roof barn —a barn that’s still standing tall today, now wrapped in steel siding to brave the elements. But if you sneak a peek inside, you’ll spot the original hand-hewn logs and timbers, placed with love and care by William Inglebright and his family.

William, alongside his son and daughter-in-law, poured their hearts into the dream of dairy farming in the Cowichan Valley, working long, hard days to build a legacy that lives on. 💪 Helen Inglebright, William’s granddaughter, called the Valley home until her passing in 2019, and guess what? William’s great-great-granddaughter is now one of the veterinarians caring for the cows on the farm.

From past to present, it’s all about family, hard work, and a whole lot of love for this land. You can see the barn from the farm stand when you pick up your milk and cream, open every day except for Sunday. 💚

02/05/2025

It's that time of year again! We hope our progressive dairy farm clients join us at the BC Herd Management Seminar which is being held in Chilliwack at Southern Irrigation this year on February 12th.

This year's event will feature 3 amazing speakers all from a variety of backrounds!

Dr. Kee Jim from Telus Agriculture will be talking about Beef on Dairy strategies.
Agwest veterinarian, Dr. Lisa McCrea will be reviewing why managing heifer inventories and culling rates are important, as well as a look at increasing your herds longevity to help support growth from within your herd.
Rounding out the day will be an in depth look at the BC Dairy Industry with a financial component delivered by Matt Creechan from KPMG.

There's something for everybody this year, and with all of the change afoot in the dairy industry, what better time to come out and spend a day with fellow farmers learning different management strategies to take home to your herds!

A great event with 3 speakers lined up to talk about where our industry is at today, and different strategies to support future growth.

02/04/2025

Congratulations Thomas & Catherine Cuthbert of Southcoast Agro Farms and Albert Gorter & Chelsea Enns of Little Qualicum Cheeseworks! You do truly exemplify the best in BC agriculture and each of you are deserving of the recognition of Outstanding Young Farmers.

And there there is steep competition in BC! Every day we are impressed by the hard-word, dedication, and passion for agriculture that we see in young farmers. You are caring for the animals on your farm and producing exceptional food for your community. Well done!

02/03/2025

Just look at these super cute Agwest cookies made by our friend Andria who operates cookies.by.andria !!

Thanks Andria! You totally made our day on a cold, snowy February morning 😃🐄

02/03/2025

Agwest is so proud to work along side hard-working Canadian dairy farmers, doing our small part to help them produce the high quality dairy products that their cows make every day.

When you buy dairy products with the “blue cow” and Dairy Farmers of Canada logo, you can be sure that you are buying dairy products that are made in Canada by Canadian farmers under the highest milk quality and cow welfare standards in the world.

If you want to support local farmers that make their milk, cheese, yoghurt, & ice cream from their own milk? Check out these Agwest clients that sell direct to consumer: Cowichan Milk Company, Little Qualicum Cheeseworks, Cowichan Station Creamery, Promise Valley Farm & Creamery, and Academy Farms. They have happy, healthy cows and make high quality dairy products for us to enjoy!

02/01/2025

Agwest veterinarian, Dr. Melodie Ares-Monast will be speaking at the Islands Agriculture Show today at 2pm at the Cowichan Exhibition Park in Duncan. Together, with other livestock experts, they will be presenting “Hot Tips for Healthy Herds” - valuable information for farmers raising livestock.

We hope to see you here today!

02/01/2025

Fun fact not sure if you guys know this or not!

Dr. Jackie’s great great grandparents on her mom‘s side cleared the land and built the hip roof barn that is still standing at Van Valley Farms! When her grandma was a teenager, they sold the farm to another local dairy family who then sold it shortly after to the Van Boven’s. The house that Ben and Margie live in is still the original farmhouse, with some add-ons! Jackie’s grandma even got to see the start of Cowichan Milk Company.

Today would have been Dr. Jackie’s grandma‘s 86th birthday so it was pretty awesome that she was there implanting an embryo today! She better take some milk home to have a chocolate cheers for her!

01/31/2025

Attention dairy farmers! There is more demand for milk in our future; how are we going to consistently produce more with the facilities that you have?

WestGen’s Paul Meyer and Agwest’s vet Lisa McCrea will be leading this exciting event: How to Leverage Genetics to Meet your 8% Quota Allocations.

This event is free to everyone and is sure to be a great information session with valuable discussions with your fellow BC Dairy farmers.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Join us Feb 19 at WestGen for insights on using genetics to meet 8% quota allocations. Featuring Paul Meyer & local producer panel!

01/31/2025

Agwest would like to extend a heartfelt thank-you to the 90 sheep & goat farmers on Vancouver Island that took the time out of their week last night to hear Dr. Melodie Ares-Monast’s presentation on Kidding & Lambing.

We hope that you were able to take some practical information home to help you on your farm! If you enjoyed this presentation or if you are interested in further topics, please let us know. We’re always happy to hear feedback 🙂

01/28/2025

Agwest Veterinarian, Dr. Melodie Ares-Monast will be speaking at the Island Agricultural Islands Agriculture Show this Saturday, February 1st!

Dr. Melodie is one of our farm veterinarians, working on Vancouver Island with dairy & beef cattle, sheep, and goats. She is passionate about improving animal health and welfare and improving profitability for livestock farmers.

This Saturday, Dr. Melodie will be presenting Parasite Management in Ruminants. She will discuss specific conditions, treatment, prevention and effects on animal wellbeing and carcass quality. This is an important topic for all owners of farm animals and particularly for those raising beef and small ruminants for meat.

Agwest is proud to be a part of this important agricultural event on the island, helping to pass on knowledge to local farmers. We hope to see you there!

The Islands Agriculture Show is just days away! Join us this Friday and Saturday at the Cowichan Exhibition Grounds. The hours on Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Come explore the trade show and conference sessions. 🚜🐮🍎

The Islands Agriculture Show provides a unique opportunity to showcase, celebrate, and grow the agriculture industry. Our sponsors provide vital contributions and support, allowing us to continue this important work on Vancouver Island.
THANK YOU to our Media Sponsors! We appreciate your support and cannot thank them enough. 👏

Please find out more about the show on our website https://www.iashow.ca/

01/25/2025

Agwest was happy to participate in WestGen's Farm Tour this past week!
Dr. Lisa, Kristen, Kelly & Yvonne were at Hardenberg & Sons Farm to help with the farm tour and to lead discussions on transition cow management, calf health, reproductive management, and general milk production. It was great to see progressive farmers out learning about these topics.
We thank WestGen for organizing this event, all of the other tour sponsors, and the VonHardenberg Family for hosting us!

01/23/2025

At Agwest, our business is helping farmers. We were happy to help farmers come together to collaborate, share and learn yesterday during WestGen’s farm tours. What a great event!

01/01/2025

Happy New Year from Agwest!

The team at Agwest has had a great 2024 year thanks to you, our clients! To top it off, our practice celebrated 20 years in business this year. We couldn’t be happier and more proud to provide veterinary care to the farming community in the Fraser Valley and south Vancouver Island. We would like to thank you for all of your support through 2024 and over the past 20 years.

We sincerely look forward to working with you in 2025. Happy New Year from all of us Agwest!

12/30/2024

Agwest has vets available 24/7, every day of the year for your farm animal emergencies in the Fraser Valley and south Vancouver Island.

In addition to scheduling appointments during our regular hours, Agwest provides emergency services over-night, weekends and holidays. Not sure if your problem is an after-hours emergency? Simply call our regular phone numbers for your area and follow the prompts to speak directly with your veterinarian. We can help you to decide if your animals require urgent care.

Fraser Valley 604-229-7231
Vancouver Island 236-800-3089

12/20/2024

Over the next two weeks for the Christmas and New Year's holiday season, we will be giving our staff some well deserved time off to spend with their family & friends.
To make this happen, our office will be closed;
Christmas Eve
Christmas Day
Boxing Day
New Year's Eve
New Years Day
As always, we have veterinarians working and on-call every day of the year, 24/7. If you need to speak with your veterinarian or have us out to your farm for an emergency, call our phone number and we will be there for you.
We hope that you and your loved ones have a safe and happy holiday season!