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21 September 2023

The Animal Health and Welfare Pathway – September 2023 Update

The Animal Health and Welfare Pathway – September 2023 Update

The Animal Health and Welfare Pathway supports continual improvement in farm animal health and welfare and is a partnership approach between the government and farmers, vets, industry and the wider supply chain.

The Pathway’s first two funding programmes are:

  1. The Annual Health and Welfare Review
  2. The Calf Housing for Health & Welfare Grant

The Annual Health and Welfare Review

 Launched in February 2023, the scheme offers farmers funding for an annual vet visit.

The health review will help you reduce endemic diseases and conditions such as BVD in beef and dairy cattle and PRRS in pigs, increase the efficacy of worming treatments in sheep, and will help to increase animal productivity and improve animal welfare.

To be eligible you must keep:

  • Beef cattle (11 or more beef cattle), or
  • Dairy Cattle (11 or more dairy cattle), or
  • Sheep (21 or more sheep), or
  • Pigs (51 or more pigs)

Those eligible will receive:

  • £522 for a beef cattle review
  • £372 for a dairy cattle review
  • £436 for a sheep review
  • £684 for a pig review

Farmers can have a review of one eligible type of livestock every 10 months.

 The Calf Housing for Health & Welfare Grant

Launched 7th September 2023, this scheme offers grant funding to build new, upgrade, or replace existing calf housing buildings to deliver health and welfare benefits for calves.

The funding must be used to provide a good ambient environment and facilitate social contact through pair or group housing. The ambient environment must ensure good air quality, temperature and humidity within the building through a suitable location, ventilation and other features.

Eligibility:

  • Applications are open to all existing cattle farmers with 11 or more cattle.

Funding available:

  • The minimum grant you can apply for is £15,000 which equates to 40% of £37,500. The maximum is £500,000.
  • Funding is for all calf housing where beef or dairy calves are housed at any point between 0-6 months in age.

Please contact Chantelle Astley, Environmental Advisor

chantelle.astley@stephenson.co.uk

01904 489731/07801 685670