Practical, hands-on experience has always been at the heart of farming, abattoir training, and large animal veterinary education. Whether it’s learning how to assist a calving cow, performing rectal examinations, or practising safe livestock handling, these skills simply cannot be mastered from textbooks alone.
Students need hands-on opportunities to practise and truly understand the realities of large animal care, to help them build confidence, skills, and technique. However, gaining this experience solely through real animals isn’t always feasible. Calving season, for example, occurs only at specific times of the year. So, what happens when veterinary or agricultural students need to learn essential skills outside these seasonal windows? And how do veterinary universities ensure consistent, ethical, and welfare-friendly teaching opportunities?
This is where Veterinary Simulator Industries (VSI) is transforming the landscape of animal science and abattoir education. Their lifelike, anatomically accurate simulators allow learners to practise critical skills year-round, safely, repeatedly, and without reliance on live animals.
As the exclusive UK distributor for VSI, we’re proud to offer a comprehensive range of simulators designed to elevate training standards across farming, veterinary, and meat processing industries.
Bovine Clinical Skills Simulators
VSI’s bovine simulators provide a highly realistic platform for developing essential large animal veterinary skills. Built with exceptional anatomical accuracy, these models allow students to practise:
Rectal palpation
Artificial insemination
Pregnancy diagnosis
Obstetrics and calving assistance
Durable enough for repeated use in busy teaching environments, these simulators support high-quality education without compromising animal welfare. Students gain confidence, refine their technique, and enter real-world practice better prepared than ever.
Southdown Dystocia Lamb Simulator
The Southdown Dystocia Lamb Simulator offers an outstanding training solution for teaching safe, effective lambing techniques.
Key features include:
Two lifelike lambs for practising single and twin births
Option to purchase an additional lamb to simulate triplet dystocia
Ability to position lambs in multiple presentations for realistic obstetric scenarios
Palpation exercises with accurate force feedback
Anatomical landmarks for locating correct injection sites
Udders for practising cleaning and tubing techniques
A robust internal metal skeleton for realistic handling
This simulator is ideal for agricultural colleges, lambing courses, and veterinary programmes seeking reliable, year-round obstetrics training.
Equine Clinical Skills Simulators
Equine care requires precision, sensitivity, and repeated practice, these skills are difficult to develop when relying solely on real horses. VSI’s equine simulators provide a safe, controlled, and repeatable environment where students can build their confidence before stepping into clinical practice.
Their models allow educators to teach essential skills such as:
Reproductive examinations
Foaling assistance
Diagnostic palpation
Safe handling techniques
By integrating VSI’s equine simulators into your curriculum, you’ll be delivering ethical, high-impact training that aligns with modern veterinary education standards.
Piglet Restraint and Jugular Blood Draw Simulator
The Pig Restraint and Jugular Blood Draw Simulator is designed for precise, realistic training in piglet handling and venipuncture.
Features include:
An articulating steel skeleton for natural movement
Anatomically correct landmarks
A self-contained simulated blood system for realistic blood draw practice
Durable, easy-to-clean silicone construction
Support for multiple restraint techniques
This model is ideal for vet schools, agricultural programmes, and livestock training centres focused on safe, humane pig handling.
Captive Bolt Gun Penetrating Training Models
For abattoir apprenticeships and Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (WATOK) courses, VSI’s captive bolt training heads offer a safe and ethical way to practise stunning techniques.
Each unit includes:
A lifelike skull with accurate density
Skin or hair covering for realism
Reusable brain canisters that reveal shot accuracy, bolt track and penetration depth
These models provide invaluable feedback for learners, helping them develop safe, precise, and welfare-focused slaughterhouse skills.
Transforming Animal Training with VSI
From farming and lambing to veterinary education and abattoir training, VSI simulators are revolutionising the way learners gain hands-on experience. They provide consistency where seasons cannot, safety where live animals may not be suitable, and realism that enriches every training session.
As the exclusive UK distributor of VSI veterinary training products, we’re here to help institutions, colleges, and training centres elevate their teaching with industry-leading simulation tools.
Get in touch today to find out more or visit our dedicated VSI product page to see the simulators in action.
