20 Jan 2026
Surviving to thriving: from struggling young vet to confident professional, George Brownlee transforms the value of the vet
Vet Times
Job Title
When George Brownlee graduated as a vet in 2004, he couldn’t wait to start making a difference. But like many bright young vets who are just starting out, he soon discovered that technical competence wasn’t enough, particularly in farm animal practice. His biggest challenge wasn’t treating animals; it was proving his value to farmers who saw him as just another cost.
George grew up on his family’s suckler beef farm before being encouraged to pursue veterinary medicine. Once qualified, he realised that when speaking to farmers, even those in his own family, it was difficult to get across his value as a trusted partner.
“I found it quite hard to help farmers understand the value of the vet. For me, that’s the cause of a lot of ills within the profession. Young vets are among the best and brightest, they’re very capable.
“Yet they turn up on farm with limited information, asking the farmer, ‘What do you want me to do today?’ and leave behind nothing but a bill. You can see why farmers would view this as an expense, rather than a valuable partnership,” says George.
Determined to break this cycle, George developed his own approach. Armed with a laptop and some Excel spreadsheets, he would spend hours after each farm visit, often until 2am, compiling data from fragmented sources including government databases, farm data, laboratory results, and his own handwritten notes.
The results were transformative. When George returned to see his farm clients, he could show them where improvements had been made, identify trends, and make evidence-based recommendations.
But the approach had its limitations. He could only manage to carry out this intensive and time-consuming process for around 10 farms, and his vet colleagues either lacked the IT skills or time to replicate it. Something that wasn’t a problem for George as a dedicated young vet without a family. These challenges sparked something in George. He began thinking about how he could develop his approach into something more systemised that other vets could easily use. VetIMPRESS was born.
When he began developing VetIMPRESS, a platform designed to consolidate farm and veterinary data into a single accessible system, he discovered that his frustration about fragmented data wasn’t unique.
George recalls: “I explained what VetIMPRESS was to another vet, and he said, ‘I’ve been waiting for this for 30 years.’
“It’s not new, it’s not ingenious, but I think it solves the issue that every vet has the moment they start working. They realise they’re doing okay as a vet, but they know they could do more if they had the data and insights they need.”
The development journey began in earnest in 2010, when George incorporated his company. After initially outsourcing to software development houses, he realised he needed his own internal trusted team. His entrepreneurial journey was a steep learning curve, where he had to learn about managing a business, securing investment, and mastering HR, all while building the platform alongside engineers. During this time, he relied on grant funding and other projects to keep the business afloat while working on the VetIMPRESS vision. By 2014, VetIMPRESS had its first vet users, who began using the system in their daily work.
The platform addresses what George calls the most critical period in a veterinary career; the two to seven years post-graduation when many talented vets lose their way and leave practice. It’s during this time that vets have mastered their clinical skills but haven’t yet learned how to demonstrate their broader value to farmers.
“The goal is to take those people and turn them into ‘super vets’ with our kit, helping them personally grow and helping them realise their impact. VetIMPRESS will do for them what I used to do at two in the morning,” says George.
VetIMPRESS consolidates data from multiple sources from government databases to farm management systems, laboratory results, and practice management system records into a single platform accessible on mobile devices. This enables vets to arrive on farms well-informed and leave farmers with more than just a bill.
“This means they can say to the farmer, I’ve got the test results, I’ve got the records, stick with me and we can work together, build the data up, and make better decisions in the future because of it,” adds George.
The impact is evident in user success stories. One vet given sole charge of a newly acquired practice location grew their business significantly using VetIMPRESS to establish themselves as the trusted advisor in their new territory. Another vet facing competition from lower-cost vet tech services used the platform to win back clients by demonstrating superior value through data-driven insights.
“Farmers can tell whenever a service provider to them is bringing that extra value,” George observes. “And if they can see that by putting effort and money in now it might result in a return later, they’ll take that gamble.”
Though for George, VetIMPRESS represents more than just a business solution, it’s about fulfilling veterinary medicine’s broader role in society.
“When we buy milk or meat, we all want to believe that the animal that produced it had a great life and was well cared for. This requires farm vets who can partner with farmers on everything from animal welfare to environmental stewardship, including food safety, carbon reduction, water quality, soil health and the cost of production alongside traditional animal health concerns,” says George.
VetIMPRESS also has a role to play in enhancing the professional well-being of vets. Veterinary medicine has concerning high rates of career dissatisfaction and even suicide, due to vets being highly motivated individuals setting exceptionally high standards for themselves, while being seen as a cost and not being fully appreciated for the true impact they are having.
“Equipping vets properly to do the best that they can possibly do is important in people’s day-to-day lives,” George says. “By doing that, they’re adding so much to society. Then we can have a thriving veterinary profession rather than one whose services are degraded down to just the cheapest provider possible.
“Any way in which we can help these talented individuals save time, reduce risk, make the best decisions and demonstrate their true value is a real win for people, planet and farm animals everywhere.”