Make the most of the Animal Health and Welfare Review
As part of the Sustainable Farming Initiative set out by Defra, you can now register your interest and apply online for an Animal Health and Welfare Review. This review isn’t to replace health planning but can instead be used to focus on a specific area on farm that will boost livestock performance, and therefore deliver better productivity for you.
What do you have access to?
Below are details of what funding is available in the review and what testing is required, plus some ideas of what you could use the review for, but obviously you should with your vet to identify the area of priority.
Dairy - £372 to include BVD testing (bulk milk) – Mastitis investigation, Calf Health, Lameness and Environment Review
(11 or more cattle)Beef - £522 to include BVD testing (youngstock screen) – Infectious Disease Investigation, Biosecurity Action Plan
(11 or more cattle)Sheep - £436 to include worm egg count sampling – Parasite Control Planning, Lameness Review
(21 or more sheep)Pigs - £684 to include PRRS testing
(51 or more pigs)Why should you get involved?
This scheme enables you to get free health planning advice and testing for your stock. Even if you are already testing for the required disease, there will still be benefits from the advice and review which can focus on different areas as above, and your current testing should be subsidised. It is also likely that trends identified from this first round of funding will shape future grants and schemes which should be beneficial in the future.
It’s currently only available to farmers in England eligible for BPS with minimum required numbers of stock. Once you have registered your interest (via the QR code below), you will receive an email confirming your eligibility and inviting you to apply for the review. Before officially applying, please speak to your vet to ascertain the best time to carry out the review, because once you’ve applied, the review must be carried out within six months. You may already be carrying out the required testing, so make it fit in with what you’re already doing.
- 1st March 2023
