Pascoe’s Oakey Vet Hospital
Breeding is our business.

For over sixty five years, Pascoe’s Oakey Veterinary Hospital on Queensland’s Darling Downs has been one of Australia’s leading Veterinary Hospitals dedicated to the Equine Industry and the health and well-being of farm and small animals.

  • Stallion station
  • Semen freezing
  • Chilled and frozen semen
  • Chilled semen transport
  • Semen evaluation
  • Embryo Transfer
  • Individual mare units
  • Problem mare evaluation
Specialist Reproduction Centre
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Due to the continued growth in the Australian horse industry – and the particular demand for embryo transfer – Dr Pascoe has expanded the Reproduction section of POVH with the development of a major new Specialist Reproduction Centre.

David & Heather Pascoe
Photo by Helen McDonald. David & Heather Pascoe

This centre specialises in embryo transfer, chilled and frozen artificial inseminations and problem mares – as well as the chilling and freezing of stallion semen for national and international supply. The Reproduction Centre has also expanded a facility for the standing of client stallions.

“We can offer stallion owners the opportunity to stand their stallions in first class facilities. It takes the pressure off the owners to stand the stallions themselves where they can stand here at our centre. We can collect and ship chilled semen and freeze semen for the owner during the season.”

There has been an extension of yard facilities with 49 small paddocks designed to allow client mares their own individual facilities. There are 12 meshed mare and foal paddocks for their safety. This will allow mares to come to the Centre for Embryo Transfer as well as chilled and frozen semen breedings.

The Specialist Centre offers Ultrasound as well as Video Endoscopes and Laparoscopy which are so important for diagnosis of mares who visit the Centre with a history of long term breeding problems.

As well as specialist diagnostic facilities, the Centre has a custom built laboratory which is designed to custom freeze stallion semen, a new indoor breeding barn and new stabling to stand up to six stallions at the Centre throughout the breeding season.

The centre is also a registered AI Centre which is designed to export both chilled and frozen semen around the world.


Stallion Station

Our new stallion station provides accommodation for up to 6 stallions. Each stallion has its own stall and day paddock.  While your stallion is staying with us, we can offer the following services:-

  • We can collect and breed mares for your clients at the Centre
  • We can collect and ship semen anywhere in Australia or overseas
  • We can custom freeze semen for clients to use when they live in a place where semen cannot be shipped easily in time

Stallions

Breeding Suitability Examination:
We can perform a full breeding suitability examination on young stallions prior to starting their stud careers. This examination covers all the requirements of insurance companies for infertility insurance for new season sires.

Semen Evaluations:

  • For older horses, or horses which infertility insurance is not required, we can collect semen from the stallion and analyse it for you. The information from this evaluation will allow you, the stallion owner, to make informed decisions on potentially how many mares the stallion will be able to cover in a breeding season.
  • For stallions you wish to ship chilled semen, we can perform a number of trials on the semen to access it’s survivability in different semen extenders and the time it lives in the extender. Using this information we can advise our clients on the best extenders to use and how long you can ship the stallion’s semen, making sure that you deliver quality semen to the mare owner at the other end.

Frozen & Chilled Semen

The use of chilled or frozen semen in the equine breeding industry has become very popular, with horse owners realising that they can breed their mare to a stallion just about anywhere in the world without the expense, stress and time of moving their mares or interrupting their competing career.

We can also offer stallion owners the opportunity to stand their stallions in our first class facilities where it will take the pressure off them to stand the stallion themselves. We can also collect and ship chilled semen and freeze semen for the owner during the season.

The Centre has a custom built laboratory which is designed to custom freeze stallion semen, a new indoor breeding barn and new stabling to stand up to six stallions at the Centre throughout the breeding season.

The centre is also a registered AI Centre which is designed to export both chilled and frozen semen around the world.

Artificial Insemination

Our Specialist Breeding Centre is also a registered Artificial Insemination (AI) Centre which is designed to export both chilled and frozen semen around the world. The Centre also specialises in breeding mares with fresh, chilled or frozen semen.

The AI process involves checking the mare’s follicles which hold the egg on a regular basis to pick the best time to order the semen for her insemination. After the mare has been inseminated, we check for ovulation and if this has occurred, we then apply the most appropriate post-breeding treatment to give your mare the best chance to get pregnant to ensure the maximized result for breeding.

Embryo Transfer

Embryo transfer in horses is becoming an increasingly popular way to breed performance horses.

The process of collection of an embryo from a donor and the transfer to a recipient is generally referred to as embryo transfer (ET). Multiple embryo transfers can be performed on one donor mare during a breeding season.

ET also often involves the technology of freezing and thawing of embryos, for which there is a large body of published techniques. Embryos may be transferred shortly after collection (fresh transfer), held cooled for a short period (a few hours or overnight) or frozen after collection for thawing and transfer at a later date.

Problem Breeders

At POVH Repro, we specialise in mares that have become problem breeders.

We offer a full array of specialist diagnostic procedures which include Ultrasound, Video-Endoscopy, Uterine Biopsy and Laparoscopy.

It is important that you can bring as much history on your mare’s previous matings and foalings as possible as this information will be vital in helping to find possible solutions to her problems.

POVH History
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Dr Reg Pascoe
Dr Reg Pascoe

Pascoe’s Oakey Veterinary Hospital (POVH) is a family owned Veterinary Hospital that first commenced operations back in 1952.  The name is synonymous with service; service to the Australian horse industry and service to the wider community in general, a fact of which they are extremely proud.

Founder Dr Reg Pascoe began the world renowned Veterinary Hospital over sixty five years ago because he believed that veterinary medicine belongs to everyone, and that veterinarians should strive to provide affordable care.

Four generations of clients have passed through the hospital’s doors since then, clients who entrusted the care of their horses to arguably the best in the industry.

In 2016 a new chapter began at POVH when Reg’s son Dr David Pascoe in partnership with his wife Heather became the outright owners of the Oakey Veterinary Hospital.  Dr David Pascoe is a world renowned Reproduction Specialist in his own right and worked around the world for many years before returning to work at POVH (Full details in the tab below).

Dr David & Heather Pascoe.
Dr David & Heather Pascoe.

Although there has been a change of guard the core philosophy of the hospital has not changed.  Like Reg, both David and Heather firmly believe:

  • That every animal has the right to the kindness and respect it deserves.
  • That truth, integrity and service is the core of client relationships.
  • That the family, the individual and small business remain the core of any healthy society, and indeed, remain at the heart and soul of being Australian.

Further, as breeders themselves they understand the need for high quality and affordable veterinary care for animals, and that is exactly what they provide.

POVH has always responded to market demands, so with the continued growth in the Australian horse industry the hospital necessarily saw an expansion of the Reproductive section with the development of a major new Specialist Reproduction Centre.

The POVH hospital is now one of the oldest, most respected and largest reproductive centres in Australia and it continues to be David and Heather’s goal to make it one of the finest veterinary Hospitals in the world, built on family values and the premise that, “We are our community, our horses, our staff and our philosophy.”

DR DAVID PASCOE
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David Pascoe grew up as a kid with a pony, a Labrador and plenty of Darling Downs dirt between his toes. His father, a young vet called Dr Reg Pascoe, had recently opened a small practice in a country town called Oakey and David, his three brothers and the Oakey Veterinary Hospital all grew up together. He helped his father build stone walls on weekends, earned pocket money cleaning hospital boxes and rode his pushbike down the road to school.

Dr Reg & David Pascoe
Dr Reg & David Pascoe

David studied veterinary medicine at the University of Queensland (1973-1977), partied hard at Kings College and later went on to work at Day and Crowhurst at Newmarket in England, where he learned a lot about reproduction and track medicine, stuffy English traditions and living under gloomy grey skies. He later returned to Australia and joined a private veterinary practice at Bunbury in Western Australia where the people were friendly, tradition was minimal and the sun never stopped shining.

David headed overseas again in 1979 and became a Resident in Equine Reproduction at the School of Veterinary Medicine at Davis in California where he spent the next seven years doing his residency and his PhD.

Some of his significant research breakthroughs include twin pregnancy reduction techniques, treating infertility in broodmares, the development of ultrasound techniques and the early development of non-surgical embryo transplant techniques. His research work and treatment included sub-fertility in stallions, the role of different drugs in increasing fertility on broodmares and the early detection in the cause of abortions on mares.

Along the way, David had the opportunity of working with some of the legends in the profession, including Professor John Hughes, Professor Bob Kenny and Professor Woodie Asbury. In 1994 he was made Adjunct Professor at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Florida.

He has addressed the International Reproduction Symposium, the British Equine Veterinary Association, the Bain Fallon and New Zealand Veterinary Association.

David returned to Australia full time in 1986 and in 1987 was awarded Membership and Fellowship in Animal Reproduction specialising in Equine Reproduction. He became a partner at OVH in 1989 and also became a Registered Specialist in Equine Reproduction in the same year.

David is now an Adjunct Professor of the University of Queensland and the Oakey Veterinary Hospital responsible for teaching the equine course to fourth and fifth year veterinary students from 1999 to 2011.

Due to the rapid growth of the Australian Horse Industry – in particular, the demand for embryo transfer – David recently expanded the Reproduction section of POVH with the development of a major new Specialist Reproduction Centre.

He still has Labradors and owns a farm on the Darling Downs with his wife where he breeds a few horses. He loves sharing the occasional rum with his friends at a camp draft, passionately adores sport of any description and wants to own a really fast racehorse.

He admits to being a completely biased Broncos supporter, dreams of fishing for fat barramundi in the wild rivers of the north and secretly wants to be a surfer with a brolly on the beach.

Dr Reg Pascoe
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Achievements

Dr Pascoe was one of the first graduates (1951) of the UQ Vet School. He completed his fellowship with the Royal College London (1973), Australian College of Vet Scientists (1975) and gained his Doctorate in Vet Science in 1984.

Dr Reg Pascoe
Dr Reg Pascoe

Immediately after graduation, Reg Pascoe and his wife Joy headed west and established a mixed practice which was later to become the Oakey Veterinary Hospital. While continuing to build up his practice, in 1967 Reg completed a Master’s Degree in Veterinary Science at the University of Queensland and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (London) in 1973.

In 1975 Reg became a Fellow of the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists and he was registered as a specialist in Equine Surgery in 1990.

Reg was appointed Adjunct Professor in the School of Veterinary Science and Animal Production at the University of Queensland in 1998 and was described as Australia’s most eminent Equine Specialist.

Despite being the original principal Partner, Director and busy specialist of a very large equine practice, Reg was a prodigious publisher of scientific articles.

Dr Reg Pascoe
Dr Reg Pascoe

During an illustrious career, he won a large number of Awards which include the EVA Award 2009 for Services to the Horse Industry, Queensland Professional of the Year 2001; the inaugural Inductee into the Queensland Equine Hall of Fame 1999; the Major National RIDIC Horse Industry Prize 1997; the Tom Hungerford Award in 1987; the Australian Veterinary Association’s Gilruth Prize in 1986 and of course A Member of The Order of Australia in 1987, He was the author of many specialist books, his last publication being “Equine Stud Medicine”, which was released in 2000.

Reg held positions with the AVA (Australian Veterinary Association), AEVA (Australian Equine Veterinary Association) and ACVSc (Australian College of Veterinary Scientists) throughout his career and four veterinary association and industry awards for Veterinarians are named in his honour.

Reg’s love for horses was not just restricted to clinical practice – his mission was always to further the promotion, teaching and study of all things equine. To this end, Reg lectured and consulted extensively throughout Australia and overseas including India, Spain, England, USA, Canada and the Philippines presenting numerous scientific papers at veterinary conferences and Universities throughout the years of his professional career.

He was twice awarded the tile of Adjunct Professor at the University of Queensland.


Greatest Achievement

Dr Reg Pascoe was a passionate believer in doing what was right, because he genuinely cared.  He was famous for telling the brutal truth – he always put the horse first and always tried to make sure that owners and clients did what was right and what was in everyone’s best long term interest – especially the animal.

At times he would advise against surgeries and suggest retirement or euthanasia as a kinder option.  He would recommend that they bought another horse and didn’t waste their money.  He didn’t always say what people expected to hear, but he earned respect, trust and generations of clients who always returned because they knew that they would get:

  • Quality of care
  • The best knowledge
  • The best results
  • The best reputation and
  • The best staff, people who truly care.

Dealing with Reg Pascoe made you part of the “POVH ‘family”.  David and Heather are no different and all of their staff must follow the family philosophy about ethical service and putting the horse first.

Dr Pascoe was sadly lost to the industry in October 2017.

Client List includes:
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Terry & Christine Hall

Ben & Jaye Hall

Karl & Felicity Burton

Rob & Wendy Durkin

Ken and Jacki Knudsen

Todd Graham

Cameron & Jane Lee

Others include:

  • Eureka Stud
  • Sean O’Hanlon
  • Peter and Shari Knudsen
  • Daandine Stud (Breeders of Written Tycoon & Capitalist)
  • Scott & Grania McAlpine (Spirit of Boom)
  • David Finch
  • Rob Ferguson
  • Paul and Kate Arnell
  • Bluehills Stud (Miss Clover Girl)
  • Hillhaven Stud

Stallions at stud include:

Contact

Pascoe’s Oakey Vet Hospital
200-212 Hamlyn Rd,
Oakey  QLD  4401

Office: 07 4692 0400
Email: oakeyvet@oakeyvet.com.au
Web: www.oakeyvet.com.au


Stallion

– Nonda Southern Cross


Opening Hours:

Monday – Friday
8:00am – 5:00pm
Saturday
8:30am – 11:30pm
Sunday
CLOSED


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