A Cumbrian woman has become one of the first in the country to gain a 'pioneering' new qualification.

Karen McNeil, a member of Paragon Veterinary Group's farm team, has achieved a Vet Technician higher level 5 apprenticeship from Harper Adams University.

She is among the first cohort of students to take the course, which was launched to formalise the status of vet techs.

Vet techs work alongside vets, performing routine tasks such as disbudding calves.

Ms McNeil is also the first in Cumbria to gain the qualification.

She said: "I am proud to be one of the first vet techs to qualify.

"The goal is to achieve regulation and recognition for vet techs, comparable to that for veterinary nurses, and the launch of this course is a step towards that.

"The vet tech is an increasingly important role in this country, helping farmers to care for their animals to the highest standards.

"We do things like disbudding calves, mobility scoring, administering vaccines for pneumonia, assisting with TB testing and have recently launched a freeze branding service."

She passed the two-year course after a final 'intense' assessment carried out by a vet examiner watching her while she worked on the farm.

It is the first time there has been a qualification available for vet technicians, a role well established in some countries abroad and now growing in the UK.

Harper Adams, the specialist agricultural university based in Shropshire, launched the course after a group of trailblazers approached the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, proposing that the role of vet technician should become a profession.

Ms McNeil is also one of the founders of the newly formed British and Irish Veterinary Technician Association, which is holding a conference with international speakers on October 9 at the Sixways Stadium in Worcester.

She added: "I would like to see all vet techs take this qualification, and we are working to build the membership of the association.

"Everything a vet tech does is for animal health and welfare.

"We are a way for farmers to demonstrate to the public that everything is being done to the highest welfare standards."