Kyle Shepherd joined AgriHealth as Sales Manager in early 2015. Kyle is well known within the veterinary medicines industry and has spent his career working in or with vet clinics. He started in vet nursing before moving to Bomac, where he developed a passion for delivering outstanding customer service. A stint as an account manager for NVS/Provet followed. Then Kyle took on a technical selling role for Bomac (now Bayer) where he worked for nearly a decade. Kyle is an experienced, well liked and respected sales person with a proven track record.

Kyle believes AgriHealth’s success in challenging markets like cattle reproduction, mastitis and milk quality, and cattle pain relief can be largely attributed to developing authentic partnerships with customers. He believes AgriHealth’s top reputation is due to great people that reliably deliver, outstanding technical support and vet training, and a genuine commitment to rural vets and NZ farmers.

In addition to leading NZ Sales activities and managing the Sales team, Kyle is also the area sales representative for Northland and greater Auckland.

Shally (Michelle) lives in Morrinsville, where she and her husband sharemilk 340 cows. Shally commenced Vet Nursing at 16 years of age, and worked in several mixed animal practices in the Waikato and also in the UK. In the past five years Shally also undertook Large Animal Technician work and a Vet Practice Management role, and helped grow the practice into previously untapped markets.

Shally has a very good understanding of dairy farming, having reared thousands of calves and milked cows on many occasions. Shally was also an LIC AB Technician in the Waikato for a decade, and is one of only five approved goat AB Technicians in New Zealand. Her spare time is spent with her two daughters and husband, travelling and horses.

Andrea is no stranger to the Veterinary industry of New Zealand and brings a wealth of sales experience, having spent 10 years working as part of MARS NZ specialty team – focusing on Pet Nutrition.

After leaving MARS Andrea joined the Covetrus (Provet) New Zealand team, initially as an Area Sales Manager, before moving to National Key Account Manager and then to the National Sales Manager role.

For the last few years Andrea has been managing two Farmlands stores in the Wairarapa and has a sound knowledge of farming and the requirements of her clients.

While living most of her life on farm with dairy goats and horses, Andrea is now based in Wairarapa with her partner. In her spare time she enjoys quality time with her grandsons, baking, gym training and being out enjoying nature.

Sophie qualified with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Otago, followed by a Bachelor of Veterinary Technology from Massey University. After graduating in 2015, she has worked in a variety of small and large animal vet clinics within New Zealand, Australia and the UK. Having worked as a large animal vet technician within the Canterbury region, Sophie has extensive knowledge of the New Zealand dairy farming and rural veterinary industry.

Sophie now lives near the beach in Christchurch with her partner, and in her spare time she enjoys hiking, skiing, running and a variety of other activities that involve the outdoors.

Rachael Powell is the Area Sales Manager for the lower South Island. She is responsible for supporting AgriHealth’s portfolio in rural vet practices from Darfield to Invercargill.

Rachael has a Bachelor of Science and Technology (BScTech) from Waikato University. She has 15 years’ experience in sales within the Animal Health sector having previously worked for Pfizer, Novartis and MSD.

Rachael and her husband live near Dunedin on a ‘lifestyle farm’. One of Rachael’s recent hobbies is breeding full blood Wagyu Beef of which saw her spend time in America to be trained in embryo transfer that she has put into practice on her own animals.

Ann, an experienced veterinarian, embarked on her journey in the vibrant 1980s after graduating from Massey University. Her career kicked off with stints at Stratford and Te Puke before her quest for further knowledge to become a vet consultant led her overseas.

In the United States, Ann delved into academia, teaching ambulatory medicine and earning her MBA at Cornell University. Her trajectory then shifted to a fulfilling tenure of over two decades with Pfizer/Zoetis, where she enjoyed dynamic roles as a technical veterinarian and leading the management of large dairy strategic accounts across the USA before venturing into the global arena. In this phase, Ann found herself at the forefront of innovation, spearheading new technologies and forging key strategic alliances, and eventually relocating to Sydney.

However, home beckoned, and six years ago, Ann returned to Christchurch, where she re-engaged in clinical vet practice after a 23 year hiatus, and worked in the veterinary business arena.

Beyond the clinic, Ann loves being so close to the mountains, and recently completed the Tarawera 50km Ultramarathon, epitomizing her indomitable spirit / an expression of her stubbornness/ proving she is somewhat crazy. Family remains her anchor, with a daughter studying engineering at UC and a son exploring Europe post-graduation (also engineering).

With a passion for the role of veterinarians in ensuring a safe and sustainable food supply and always on the look for new challenges, Ann continues to explore the world of veterinary medicine, four hooves at a time.

During 24 years in mixed animal practice and business management with the Veterinary Enterprises group based in Te Awamutu and Otorohanga, Steve developed the Leptosure programme and was involved with PureMilk mastitis consultancy for 6 years.  

He then joined Agrihealth as a technical manager with a focus on veterinary education in early 2017.  Steve tutors the DCV Ultrasound Roadshow, and has been involved with the Advanced Mastitis Course and National Mastitis Advisory Council. He sits on the Veterinary Professional Insurance Society (VPIS) technical advisory group and acts as an assessor for dairy related insurance claims. 

Steve is also the current President of the Dairy Cattle branch of the New Zealand Veterinary Association (NZVA).

Katie previously worked as DairyNZ Lead Advisor in Animal Care, and retains a strong interest in NZ cattle care and wellbeing. Prior to that Katie worked as Head of Animal Research at Christchurch School of Medicine for several years, and for the prior decade undertook practitioner veterinarian roles in various practices (including Waimate Vets).  

Katie has enjoyed extended involvement with NZVA’s Epidemiology, Food Safety, Animal Welfare and Biosecurity (EFAB) special interest branch as Treasurer/Secretary, represents EFAB on the NZVA Advisory Board, and acts as NZVA representative on the University of Canterbury animal ethics committee.  

Based in Christchurch, Katie is married with 3 teenage kids and loves outdoor activities such as mountain biking, tramping and skiing.  

Based in Christchurch, Paul Dwyer is the Key Account Manager for AgriHealth’s pig and poultry customers. 

He has extensive experience in the rural sector through previous South Island based roles with Tegel, NRM, and Elanco.

Paul also brings significant technical knowledge to the role, with an agricultural science degree from Massey University, and a diploma in nutrition.

Ed Catherwood founded AgriHealth in 2008, and continues to own and lead the company as CEO today.  He is a Massey University agricultural science graduate, with experience in animal health and nutrition and a passion for the future NZ farming.  Ed’s great great grandfather purchased a pastoral farm in Canterbury on arrival from Ireland in the 1860s.  Today the Catherwood family continue their enduring farming connection with Ed now part owner of the family farm near Darfield.

AgriHealth's mission is to help local vets help NZ farmers improve health and productivity, and has invested heavily in local clinical trials to improve NZ farm animal outcomes. More recently AgriHealth Innovations was set up to expand research and product development initiatives, with a focus on NZ-centric farm animal medicines.  Ed attributes much of the success of NZ's leading locally owned farm animal health business to the experienced and fabulous AgriHealth team.  

Chair of industry association ARPPA for 8 years, in 2022 Ed co-led a merger with AGCARM to form the newly united industry organisation Animal and Plant Health New Zealand and remains a Board member. 

Ed always strives to ensure New Zealand remains a great country to farm animals AND a wonderful place to live.  

Maxine is AgriHealth’s Office Manager. Maxine has previously worked in similar roles, for both a large multinational and a smaller importing company, prior to joining AgriHealth.

Maxine gained a BSc (Hons) in Leicester and then spent several years working in London before emigrating to New Zealand in 2000.

Lucy graduated in 2020 from The University of Auckland with a BSc majoring in Biomedical Science. Her passions lie in health and wellbeing, and being able to understand disease at the molecular level. Lucy enjoys comparing the treatments she learnt about in university to the current standards of treatment for animals.

Lucy hails from the Far North, she has grown up surrounded by farming and rural New Zealand throughout her childhood. She has travelled extensively in 2019 through Europe, Japan and America. She enjoys baking, volunteering and exploring beaches in her free time.

Rachel has a wealth of knowledge and experience, having worked on farms and within the agricultural industry all her life.

Having grown up on a sheep & beef property in the Rangitikei, she followed her passion by completing a Bachelor of Science, double majoring in Agricultural and Animal Science at Massey University. As part of her practicum and summer holidays she worked on the family farm and a Waikato dairy farm.

Rachel started her career as Business Development Manager with The Vetservice Group before taking on a Dairy Farm Consultancy role with Shepherd Agriculture. Rachel then moved to Bayer NZ for a ten year period, with roles as Territory Manager (sales), Brand Manager (marketing & project management) and finally a Growth Opportunities Manager with a global focus on new prodcut development. Rachel was also actively involved in NZ Young Farmers, holding Club Office positions and both organising and competing at regional level alongside her husband Rob.

Rachel and Rob manage the Cashmore Family sheep and beef farm in South East Auckland.  They have two young children and are actively involved in their local community and farm discussion groups. 

Rachel has a passion for New Zealand Agriculture and is keen to see it continue as a world leader, in providing quality products to local and global consumers, and the part AgriHealth plays in making this happen.

Richard obtained his vet degree in South Africa and started his career in disease surveillance & control, as a state veterinarian, where he developed an interest in herd health and epidemiology which led him to studying further and obtaining an MSc degree. He then pursued his interests by joining Bayer where he was responsible for the clinical research programme in south and southern Africa.

Looking for new opportunities and to gain more commercial experience Richard then relocated to New Zealand where he joined Bomac Laboratories. In his time with Bomac Richard was involved with the development and launch of several new products which continue to be used to date.

Richard then gained global experience in commercial business development, and R&D roles, across Asia Pacific, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa with both Bayer and Elanco.

Richard brings his experience and knowledge of R&D, and his passion for animal productivity and welfare, to AgriHealth where he is committed to bringing new innovation to NZ agriculture. 

The AgriHealth Innovations group is responsible for product development and new ideas for growing the company's NZ farm animal medicine portfolio.  The Group includes several highly experienced veterinarians and vet medicine experts, along with AgriHealth Founder Ed Catherwood. 

Please contact one of the team if you have an idea, or are seeking more information about AgriHealth Innovations.

AgriHealth's Technical and Regulatory Manager Laura Young has a wealth of relevant experience. Prior to joining AgriHealth in 2013 she was Technical and Regulatory Manager for Elanco New Zealand for several years. Prior to that, Laura worked for seven years at Animal Health Morrinsville (now Anexa) primarily as a dairy cattle vet practitioner. During this period Laura assisted with bovine reproduction and mastitis trial projects led by Scott McDougall of Cognosco, and tutored cattle veterinarians around New Zealand as part of the DCV Bovine Ultrasound Pregnancy Diagnosis Roadshows. In addition, Laura was an Intelact Nutritional consultant.

Laura was also dairy farming on two Morrinsville farms, and entered Waikato Sharemilker of the Year several times.

In her role with AgriHealth, Laura leads Regulatory Affairs for new products and existing products, overseas local studies, and as a Technical Advisor helps to support NZ cattle vets.

Dr Fadil Alawi is a specialist in the formulation and production of new veterinary products, with his MSc in chemistry (University of London) and his PhD in pharmaceutical sciences (University of Dundee).  He developed several NZ farm animal vet medicines during his long tenure at Bomac/Bayer, where he led the formulation and analytics team (head of pharmaceutical development).

In 2022 AgriHealth founded the research lab on Grafton road where Fadil now leads the formulation efforts of the Innovation team.

Fadil’s wealth of knowledge and experience with both the development and manufacture of new vet medicines will contribute to the success of AgriHealth’s innovations pipeline.

After a decade in rural practice in NZ and the UK, John had a variety of technical and research roles with Schering Plough /MSD, where he fostered a keen interest in the immunological prevention of disease, clinical trials, and  product development.

Contracted to Agrihealth, John works along the side the regulatory and innovation teams to provide technical support over a broad range of projects, but in particular clinical trials and ruminant vaccine development.