This last year has been my first year with cows, so I mentally budgeted for vet fees, thinking a call out fee is better than a dead cow/calf.
So from March 2018 I have had a vet 3 times. The local farm vet , was expensive, we are less than four miles from them, but I still got a £35 call out fee, and they were not hands on. Now I use a vet which is further away, part of a big group, the vets are Polish and Romanian, both hands on, very good and patient with me, and even remember my cows.
My biggest bill £190, for disbudding, so I am changing to polled cows.
I think the secret with all animals is paying a bit more to by stock that you know has been cared for properly. I do not think I would by anything from market, travelling causes stress and you can expect to get, 'travel snots', to follow.
I have now been around a few small holdings and some I am afraid to sad to say do not measure up to farmers yards who handle far more cattle. I would be ashamed if mine were stood in a foot of s**t.
I have been surprised how little advice I have been given by other cattle keepers I have met, even though I ask. Very different from horses, where everyone has an opinion. I do not know if this is because I am a women, or because I ask questions, so a lot of what I have learned has come from ADAS, government web sites and forums. Which is a shame. The local small holders group no one seems to keep cattle, so no help from there. I think actually the vets have been well worth their money.