Farm Call Fees

[Annie10]

My vet charged $75 for a farm call. Plus a mileage fee (as yet unstated) per mile from their brand new fancy clinic they just built about an hour away from my farm. That’s not necessarily where the Vet is coming from when they come to me, but that’s where the mileage fee starts from there to my farm… plus an exam fee. Then plus whatever else they do.
There are clients who live farther away than I do who are pretty up in arms about it.

I’ve been a client since 1996 and use them for everything except dentals. And there’s a reason for that.

[Ghazzu]

How much would it cost to have a plumber or electrican step onto your property?
.
When I was in practice, I charged a somewhat lower “recheck” fee if I were making multiple visits for an ongoing issue.

[Simkie]

@Ghazzu

How much would it cost to have a plumber or electrican step onto your property?

I can actually answer this question since I had a plumber out today.

150 bucks.

Which is just a liiiittle above the call fee from the vet, but less than the call fee + any services.

[luvmyhackney]

@Ghazzu

How much would it cost to have a plumber or electrican step onto your property

I can answer this. I’ve had all on my property for the past two months. My electrician is 75.00 and my plumber is 100.00 to show up and my home vet is 125.00. I gladly pay their fees.

Now the horse I board out, the vet is there every Tuesday, I still get charged a full farm fee and exam fee if my horse is on the list. They rarely split fees between owners.

[Rallycairn]

I don’t see a problem with the call fee, but what I typically see is follow-up visits being a recheck fee rather than an exam fee.

[Ajierene]

I did not realize how vet charges seem to have changed. Where I was before, the racetrack vets saw my horse as she was a racehorse rehab/layup facility. There was not farm call there as the place is close to the training facility and most patients were going back to the facility.

Since I moved, I have been able to use the same vet practice - mostly my chiropractor. Farm call is, I think $25 (maybe $30 now?) and adjustment is about $150.

My friend has been using the same vet for over 20 years (I used to use him as well but had moved out of his area). He has sold his practice so operates on the fee schedule of the new owner. He’s nearing retirement and not always available but she has a good relationship with him and he (and my chiro/vet) are a good mix of old school understanding and modern/continuing education.

My friend called my vet once because hers was unavailable or something to look at an injury on her horse. He came back for a follow up and didn’t charge her anything.

We are about a 15 minute drive from my vet’s office (not sure where he lives), not sure how far from her vet but probably about a 20 minute drive from her vet’s home of residence (when I was his client, I would pick up meds at his practice/home - he had a insulated box outside, you said when you were going to be there and they put the items in there, you picked it up and dropped the check in - just sayin’…not a stalker…probably…).

[SusanO]

I am in a vet desert. I would gladly pay whatever it costs for a farm call. The vet clinic I use is an hour and a half drive one way. Now there are closer vets that I could haul to but none closer than 30 minutes. And I am out of everybody’s range. If it is that close, can you haul in to the clinic? If you do not have a trailer and have to pay for transportation, I doubt it would be less than $100 but maybe the cost would be lower since it is a short exam.

Having to purchase a truck, outfit said truck, stock the truck with meds and equipment, pay for tires, insurance, maintenance, fuel, etc. - that costs a lot and needs to be covered by farm call fees regardless of driving time or distance. Those costs need to be considered too.

[horsepoor]

@2DogsFarm

If you are a longtime client who keeps their account current/PIF, I might ask if there was any way to discount the followup visits.

This. Or inquire if the billing is actually correct. Sometimes things don’t get communicated correctly between my own vet and his office staff so I do keep an eye on the billing.

I pay $165 for a farm call when my vet travels 30+ miles to get here. And that just went up quite a bit. So in your case, yes, it does seem excessive (especially with the exam fees) but sometimes that’s how it goes. But I don’t feel like it is harmful to just ask your vet clinic about it.

[mmeqcenter]

The exam fee I have no qualms with. Sure, it hurts to see a bill for $150 for 15 minutes of work, but it’s not about just the time they spend doing the exam, it’s about the education it took them to be able to do the exam accurately in 15 minutes, plus the cost of maintaining the equipment to do the exam.

The farm call fees are a lot and I would be unhappy to pay that.

@Blueeyedroan

Maybe I have just been spoiled by other vets (much more old school ones who owned the whole practice) who, when they want to to multiple check ins, generally try to combine it with other trips or book it on a day they are driving by and discount the farm call fee completely.

This has also been my experience, but in horse-meccas with tons of vets around. I even had a vet in Ocala who just didn’t charge me a farm call fee, ever. But if I got an emergency vet from her practice that wasn’t her (the practice had 26 vets, so, always several on-call for emergencies), I’d get a farm call fee (and a pretty reasonable one at that). If you’re in a less horsey area with less choices, perhaps they have reason to be stricter with their farm call policy. I also understand that policy is policy, and if they make an exception for you, they then will feel obligated to make one for Sarah and Jessica too, and where does it end? Sure they could make a cut-off limit but, but say it’s 10 miles they’ll wave the fee? Someone at 11 miles will surely complain, and so on and so on. Plus, just because the clinic is 10 minutes away, doesn’t mean that’s where the vet is coming from. I agree, it’d be smarter to schedule their drop-ins on the way to and from elsewhere but, some people aren’t great a scheduling.

You could verify the billing with the office. Or look at either hauling the horse to their clinic or perhaps asking if such frequent checks are really NEEDED or just nice to have. I know corneal ulcers are a big deal but still. Or maybe they have a vet tech that can swing by for checks for a lesser fee?

[exvet]

Hmmm…old school vet here though in total transparency I don’t do large animal any more as a source of income though my ‘friends’ aka neighbors have no restraint asking for me to come over ‘just to take a look at their horse’…

Also, I am so guilty of ‘feeling bad’ or ‘feeling like the client needs a break’ that the corporation that I work for is constantly threatening me…but…I’m an old bitch who will do surgery, who does show up every single frickin day I’m scheduled, who doesn’t need ‘mental health days’ etc I think you get the drift so I do what I THINK IS RIGHT and am fully aware of how much money I make the corporation even after ‘my cut’ so they can threaten away…but here are my questions to the mob and you…

what do you pay per min, hour, time segment for let’s say hair care - cut, style, perm whatever?

what do you pay to get your nails done? dip? regular or gel? …french tip…you get the idea.

what do you pay to get your pet bathed? groomed? etc

and my personal favorite, what to you pay your instructor, trainer, body worker, farrier, etc per hour?

Don’t get me wrong. Their services if you feel like they’re delivering are worth fair compensation. You are complaining about being gouged because someone is trying to insure your horse’s vision isn’t going south? YOU think it’s just 10 minutes to come to your barn and then another 10 minutes to look at your horse and say everything is progressing according to plan. You’re feeling gouged because why? You’d rather they show their worth by telling you your horse is getting worse? You would rather it take more time? You feel because it’s not getting worse that you should get a discount? Does your HUMAN insurance company broker with the doctors and health care professionals that way?

Yes our time costs money…our gas, insurance, wear and tear on the vehicle costs money…do I dare say our expertise costs money? otherwise you’d be doing it yourself…damn thing about getting those drugs though right? though a lot of you have a way around that (trust my I grew up on a dairy farm so I know all about it)…

It sucks and we do feel guilty about charging to take care of animals…one of the many reasons why our profession has one of the highest suicide rates. I wouldn’t even respond to this but a colleague of mine had to vent to me yesterday because she got cussed at, blasted and taken to task on social media because of the way she handled a recent euthanasia. She’s at least 20 years out of school, graduated 1st in her class, did an internship before going to private practice and is as conscientious as I know. I wouldn’t hesitate to have her see my pet. The family giving her the grief has been coming to her for over 10 years but they had to spew their ‘disgust’ on her because when they came to her in need, an ‘emergency’ so not a scheduled event, to have their 16 year old dog euthanized, they were traumatized with the fact that she did not stay with them in the room after sedating their pet prior to the actual euthanasia (um, she was trying to work it into her surgery schedule), they were horrified that she didn’t inform them of the crematorium that we use (have been using it for at least 25 years), they felt she didn’t give them enough compassion (she still had 4 more surgeries to work through)…yada, yada, yada…for the entire pleasant experience, they were charged $125 (this included cremation) and took at least 1.5 hours of her time. She fortunately is in a relatively good place in her head but someone younger? probably not…still this individual needed to talk this out with me to make sure she wasn’t being ‘horrible’…it rocked her to her core because she felt she was legitimately helping them by working them into her already overscheduled day. I love my job and profession but have maintained a love-hate relationship because of such bullshit.

Have you looked at the statistics of equine veterinarians lately? I got smart and got out a long time ago and I’m still practicing but in small animal medicine which still has it’s issues as already expressed but at least I’m no longer wasting windshield time…but again I’m an OLD BITCH and no longer apologize for who I am, what I think or the choices I make.

“But when I’m $500 into farm call fees alone, for less than an hour of actual vet work and about $15 in fuel, doesn’t that seem a little insane?” Does this mean you’ve had the vet out for follow up 5 times? 3 times? I earn more than that in an hour for even less sweat equity - well unless you consider my equipment (ultrasound), my staff who have to help restrain - at least 2 people and well yes, my stupid education and 36 years of experience…all too often to deliver ‘bad’ news to a client, not always but too often for my liking…

Here’s a solution to your horse with a plethora of corneal ulcers and your bank account…go to Tractor Supply, buy some vetricyn and hope for the best.

In all honesty I hope your horse is recovering fully and doing well but you need to get your backside in a practice vehicle not for just one day but for one week and that is for every time that single vet gets called out - routine, emergency, etc. When I was doing equine medicine and surgery including ambulatory work I carried gun and it wasn’t just for the veterinary side of things…so work that into your logistics as well…just sayin (and that was in the 1990’s).

I truly wish veterinary medicine were less expensive for clients but that is because most of my clients are on a fixed income…that’s not the case for most horse owning individuals.

[Alex_and_Bodie_s_Mom]

I don’t remember what my vet’s farm call fee is, it used to be $25 for a regular visit and double for an after hours emergency, but it’s gone up, I know. Doesn’t matter. If paying that means getting my vet when I need them, I will pay it without question.

But I do think the exam fee should be a recheck fee, which hopefully would be less than the exam fee.

[GraceLikeRain]

The farm call feed around here are steep compared to some places. When you have an emergency it’s the normal travel plus standard exam plus emergency exam fee so you’re well over $200 before someone touches your horse. In a true emergency that’s pocket change and a small price to pay.

When it’s a very non emergency but out of standard hours and you don’t have the meds you need or want to verify a treatment protocol it definitely stings.

I paid $450 for a vet to drive ten minutes on a weekend to confirm the clearly visible eye ulcer, administer a little more banamine, and give me a single tube of meds that would have been $25 from valley vet if I’d remembered to replace it last time I’d been out.

[cayuse]

I’ve never not been charged for a farm call. I had at least one or more a week for 2 months last summer for re-checks and tinkering with my mini after he had sinus surgery and was charged each time. I never questioned it. It was $75 during business hours and twice that after hours. Phone consults/updates were free . We had many of those too.

[LCDR]

My vet practice used to set farm call fees by zone. At my previous barn I was zone 4, now I am zone 1. But recently the invoices no longer list zone, just a farm call fee. Maybe they grew tired of clients trying to debate themselves into a less expensive zone.

[treebeard]

Farm calls to my place are $187. If it is an emergency double that.

It is what it is because it’s the only large animal clinic that covers horses, bovines, and other ruminants like sheep, goats and alpacas. They cover a huge area and have the best emergency services.

Sometimes the call charge hurts, especially if I have an animal with an illness that needs multiple treatments, but when I had a very ill mini horse this vet clinic dispatched vets on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Years. They are the best and I appreciate them very much.

[Bluey]

We are a good hour from our horse vet clinic.
If we have something that takes several trips, we leave horse at the vet clinic for daily/several times a day care and continuous vet attention, like eye issues.
Our vet comes by here twice a day, on his way to the clinic mornings, back to go home in the evenings.
Still, vet call fees apply.

Daily horse boarding at their clinic is cheaper than trip fees of vet coming by regularly.
See if that may work for you?

[clanter]

@exvet

“But when I’m $500 into farm call fees alone, for less than an hour of actual vet work and about $15 in fuel, doesn’t that seem a little insane?” Does this mean you’ve had the vet out for follow up 5 times? 3 times? I earn more than that in an hour for even less sweat equity - well unless you consider my equipment (ultrasound), my staff who have to help restrain - at least 2 people and well yes, my stupid education and 36 years of experience…all too often to deliver ‘bad’ news to a client, not always but too often for my liking…

I worked in a very specialized field, your point is well taken by me. I once was told to fly to Guam to repair a piece of equipment that I knew inside and out. I had been to Guam before and really, really did not want to endure the flights there and back so was able to the field tech on the phone, (there is a 15 hour time difference so I worked on his time)

But was able to talk him through wire by wire to find the point of failure and isolate the problem, got the equipment up and running. This took less than half an hour. Bill to Texas Instruments Security was many thousands of dollars that was paid without a single question as they were prepared to spent big money to get this vital piece of equipment repaired without having to send a work force of their own.

[Annie10]

@Ghazzu

How much would it cost to have a plumber or electrican step onto your property?
.
When I was in practice, I charged a somewhat lower “recheck” fee if I were making multiple visits for an ongoing issue.

About $100. Except they don’t then charge an exam fee and mileage from an hour away . And the $100 is waived when they do whatever is needed.

[ParadoxFarm]

I live maybe 3 miles from my vet. I paid 55.00 for my last farm call. (1-15 miles) See everyone else’s fees, I don’t feel so bad.

[MsM]

My vet typically charges a “brief exam fee” when doing vaccinations etc. I believe they need to document that they determined the overall health of the horse before anything was done.
Visit fees are by zone and are reasonable to me.