Jessica Seale wins Zoetis-sponsored UK Farm Vet of the Year for innovative avian flu work

Jessica Seale, senior associate at Slate Hall Veterinary Services, clinched the Zoetis-sponsored Farm Vet of the Year award for her groundbreaking work on bird flu management, vaccination trials, and data-driven flock health innovations.

Jessica Seale, a senior associate at Slate Hall Veterinary Services in Rampton, Cambridgeshire, has been named Zoetis-sponsored Farm Vet of the Year at the National Egg & Poultry Awards in London.

A Bristol graduate with a masters in One Health from the Royal Veterinary College and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Ms Seale joined Slate Hall in 2022 after starting her career in a Yorkshire poultry practice. Her work has centred on flock health, welfare and disease control, particularly during avian influenza outbreaks.

According to the Veterinary Surgeon report, she has carried out more than 400 bird flu licensing visits and has contributed to the UK’s first avian influenza vaccination trials. The judges praised her for combining welfare-led production with practical innovation, including the development of automated data analysis tools designed to turn large volumes of farm information into real-time health insights.

Slate Hall, founded in 1996, is one of the UK’s larger specialist poultry veterinary practices, with 14 vets across five locations and services spanning broilers, breeders, layers, turkeys, gamebirds and ducks. The firm says it also runs training, laboratory and pharmacy operations from its Lincolnshire base.

The judges said Ms Seale’s work was having “a lasting effect on flock health, welfare and the future of the UK poultry industry”.