For those sheep or beef farms who have completed the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway review (with associated wormer or BVD testing), funding for a follow up visit and further testing is now available.
Beef
For beef farmers, the nature of the follow-up testing depends on the results of the first round of BVD testing carried out as part of the Review. If exposure to BVD was found on the farm during the initial testing, £837 is available to cover the cost of testing you herd for the source of infection (ie a ‘PI hunt’), as well as for carrying out a BVD biosecurity assessment with your vet.
For farms where BVD was not found in the first round of testing, £215 is still available for you to compile a BVD-focused biosecurity assessment with your vet.
Sheep
The follow-up funding for sheep farmers is much more flexible, and £639 is available for you to carry out disease testing for almost any disease(s) you would like in your flock, at the discretion of yourself and your vet. This is followed up with a vet report on the findings. You should discuss with your vet what testing would be most useful for you – for sheep farmers, the funded testing includes not only infectious diseases, but also trace element testing, late pregnancy metabolic testing and parasite screening.
Unfortunately, there is currently no follow-up funding for dairy farms.
To carry out the follow-up testing and claim the funding, you must apply online in the same way that you initially applied for the first Animal Health and Welfare Pathway Review. You must have completed and claimed for the initial testing and review within the last 10 months to apply for the follow-up. If it has been more than 10 months since you completed the initial testing and review, funding is still available for you to repeat the first part of the pathway (and will still be available in 2025).
If the details of the follow-up funding seem confusing, which would be understandable, then please get in touch to discuss your farm’s individual situation!
John
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