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Disease investigation and troubleshooting
Investigation of disease and production problems in commercial poultry through clinical examination, postmortem and diagnostic sampling, to establish the cause and direct treatment.
Commercial poultry veterinary and biosecurity consultancy for the intensive animal industries.
Whole-business biosecurity, led by Dr Heather McKimm. The Australian Government commended her work in the 2025 avian influenza response.
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Our Services
Veterinary and biosecurity services.
Veterinary services for the commercial poultry industry, with biosecurity and emergency disease consultancy extending across all intensive animal production. Each service can be taken on its own or as part of an ongoing arrangement.
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Veterinary care
Day-to-day veterinary oversight of flock health, from diagnosis through routine management and production performance.
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Flock health management
Routine veterinary oversight across the production cycle, covering scheduled visits and monitoring, vaccination and blood-testing programme design, worm and parasite control, and hatchery and rearing support.
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Nutrition and production performance
Review of feed quality, formulation, ration delivery and management against growth, egg output and feed conversion, to identify where they limit health or performance.
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Biosecurity & disease response
Protecting the operation from incursion and preparing for the worst case, on farm and by design.
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Biosecurity and biosecure facility design
Independent biosecurity assessment of a site and its operation, with advice on shed and site design that builds biosecurity into how the farm is laid out and run.
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Pathogen control, Salmonella and Campylobacter
Strategies and monitoring to reduce and control pathogens, in particular Salmonella and Campylobacter, including environmental sampling, serovar interpretation, NSEMAP accreditation support and shed-level control.
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Emergency animal disease preparedness
Pre-positioned response plans and on-farm readiness for Emergency Animal Diseases such as avian influenza, African swine fever and foot and mouth disease.
Part of the flagship audit→03
Assurance & stewardship
Responsible medicine use and audit-ready compliance against Australian industry standards.
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Antimicrobial use and stewardship
Veterinary prescribing and direction of in-feed and in-water antimicrobial use under a vet-client-patient relationship and implementing on-farm monitoring and alternative disease management tools to support antimicrobial stewardship.
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Peter Bedwell
Peter BedwellProduction assurance, audit and accreditation
Preparation for third-party audits against Australian standards such as Egg Standards Australia, RSPCA and FeedSafe, with scheme-specific readiness, gap closure, evidence packs and mock audits.
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Training and Research
Building knowledge and evidence within producer teams and across the industry.
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Filming 3D virtual reality biosecurity training, 2022. Photograph by Andrew Hagan.
Filming 3D virtual reality biosecurity training, 2022. Photograph by Andrew Hagan.Training and capability development
Training for producers and farm teams, delivered on-farm and in group sessions.
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Applied production research
Applied research in commercial production settings, including trial design, paired-shed observation, and on-farm data collection and interpretation.
Working with Stockworth
Retained support or one-off work.
OngoingContact us →
Retained support
- Scheduled farm visits
- Priority access
- Results interpretation
A veterinarian who knows your operation and is engaged with it regularly, not only when a problem arises.
As neededContact us →
One-off work
- Investigations
- Defined projects
For a specific problem, or a defined piece of work with its own scope.
The Biosecurity & Emergency Animal Disease Audit
Whole-business biosecurity, ready before you need it.
Run on site with your team.
49 days from first case to all clear in the 2025 national avian influenza response
- 01Leadership interviewHow the business decides, funds and reports on biosecurity.
- 02Operating systemsThe records, movement controls and reporting that run across every site.
- 03Site walk-throughEvery link in the chain scored, hatchery to processing plant.
- 04Mortality, waste and water pathwaysWhere disease leaves a site and how it can come back in.
- 05Gap closureThe SOPs, registers and training that fix what the walk-through found.
- 06Response planThe emergency animal disease plan written for your business.
Biosecurity works when the people running the site own it. We work through the whole operation with you, and you finish with:
- A map of where biosecurity is exposed
- Practical fixes across infrastructure
- Preparedness that limits downtime when a response starts
- Processes and training in place
- An emergency response plan written for your business
The Team
The people behind Stockworth.
Dr Heather McKimm
Principal Veterinarian and Managing Director
Dr Heather McKimm
Principal Veterinarian and Managing Director
Stockworth is led by Dr Heather McKimm, President of the AVA Commercial Poultry Veterinarians Group. She began her career as an intensive animal consultant across the poultry, pig and other intensive livestock sectors, and before founding the practice she was a senior executive at Kinross Farms, responsible for feed milling, nutrition, veterinary health, welfare, biosecurity, farming quality assurance and contracted farming operations. She helped lead Australia’s 2025 avian influenza response, one of three she worked between 2020 and 2025, and received the 2025 Australian Government Biosecurity Commendation for that work. She also spent six years lecturing in animal and veterinary science at Charles Sturt University, where she helped develop new training approaches for intensive animal production and biosecurity.
Dr Peter Groves
Veterinarian
Dr Peter Groves
Veterinarian
Dr Peter Groves has spent most of his working life in veterinary service to the poultry industry. He has qualifications in epidemiology and finds this discipline a great way to sort out complex poultry health issues. He has conducted research into coccidiosis, broiler ascites, Marek’s disease, infectious laryngotracheitis, Salmonella, incubation effects on broiler leg health, extended layer lifespan and spotty liver disease. He has served on many government and industry committees involved with Salmonella, Newcastle disease and avian influenza, and has provided consultancy services to the layer industry through Zootechny Pty Ltd since 2003.
Dr Rowan Wilson
Veterinarian
Dr Rowan Wilson
Veterinarian
Dr Rowan Wilson is an experienced veterinarian in intensive animal production, with a strong background in commercial poultry. His interests include monitoring production figures to detect subclinical disease before it surfaces, and building online dashboards that make complex flock data easy to read. He has extensive experience introducing probiotics into poultry production systems to support bird health and reduce reliance on antibiotics.
Maria King
Practice Manager
Maria King
Practice Manager
Maria King has worked in the poultry industry since 1996. She began her career at Baiada Poultry as Accounts Payable Supervisor, leading a team of three, before transitioning to the veterinary department as research assistant to Dr Peter Groves. In 2003 she joined Zootechny Pty Ltd as practice manager, responsible for all aspects of the practice’s administration, including accounts, payroll, and vaccine and medication ordering and reconciliation, as well as on-farm support for blood collection, postmortem examinations, water vaccinations and research trials.
Contact
Speak to the practice.
Send an enquiry or email heather@stockworth.com.au. Someone from Stockworth will be in touch. A few words about your operation and what you’re after is all it takes.