OvertheCounter – The national magazine for animal health advisers and country store retailers
What is OTC?
OTC is a bi-monthly magazine for the animal health industry, providing practical advice on farm animals, pets and equines to help advisors give informed advice on product selection at point of sale
Who reads it?
Approx 6000 SQPs, Vet nurses and advisors in country stores, pet shops and tack rooms as well as wholesalers and distributors in the UK
USP’s
OTC covers Livestock, Equine and Companion sectors. All training modules are AMTRA accredited Once published in the magazine, training modules are then listed on the OTC website for 2 years allowing SQP’s to complete them at their leisure and gain CPD points
Data We have 3,771 usable email addresses
What are SQPs?
SQP stands for Suitably Qualified Person. There are 8 types of SQPs but the vast majority are Companion, Equine or Livestock SQP’s.
An SQP is an animal medicines advisor, a legal category of professionally qualified persons who are entitled to prescribe and/or supply certain veterinary medicines under the Veterinary Medicines Regulations. In other words they are a dispensing chemist for the animal world!
Once qualified, SQP’s are obliged to continue their learning through CPD modules (Continuing Professional Development). They must gain 80 CPD points within every fixed 2 year period (July ’15-June ’17). Many of these points can be gained via OTC.
A large proportion of SQPs work in Country Stores. There are approximately 1500 Country Stores in the UK. Many SQPs are the Stores’ owner and or manager. From October 2016 any Country Store owner/manager not already on the circulation started receiving OTC thereby increasing the circulation. The editorial remit has been expanded to include matters of interest to these individuals as well as the existing content. Subjects and areas covered includes: Farming products; Equestrian products; Garden and home; Clothing and footwear; Pet products; Tools and hardware; farm machinery