What happens during an animal health and welfare review
Find out what to ask your vet to do during a review.
Applies to England
You must ask the vet to complete the following steps before you claim.
During the review: sampling for disease testing
You must ask the vet to take samples for the required tests.
You must ask your vet to read the vet鈥檚 guidance on the required sampling and testing. You will only be eligible for funding if the vet follows this guidance. You can also read the vet鈥檚 guidance for details of the required testing, but this is not mandatory.
Required testing
You should follow this for each herd or flock you test.
| Species | Test type | Minimum number of samples taken from: |
|---|---|---|
| Beef cattle | Bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) blood (serum antibody test) | 5 unvaccinated cattle aged 9 to 18 months per management group in up to 2 groups |
| Dairy cattle | Bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) bulk milk test. The farmer can take the bulk milk sample without the vet, if confident in doing so | A representative milk sample from the bulk tank |
| Sheep | Wormer treatment check. The farmer can collect faeces samples, if confident in doing so | Minimum of 10 lambs less than 12 months old. If you have less than 10 lambs on your farm, you can still apply, but you must test all lambs in your flock |
| Pigs | Test for porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) antibodies. This test uses the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method | Minimum of 30 pigs sampled using 5 oral fluid ropes |
You can:
- arrange your review to fit in with your existing testing schedule if you鈥檙e already testing for these diseases or conditions
- use review test results for other accreditation schemes you鈥檙e a member of. Check with the accreditation scheme that they will accept testing from the review
You cannot use other accreditation scheme test results for this review funding.
If you ask the vet to test for other medical conditions or diseases, you must pay for that separately.
During the review: health and welfare advice
You must ask the vet to give you health and welfare advice about your livestock. You can discuss any related animal health and welfare topic, as well as topics like:
- biosecurity
- medicine usage
- any other health or welfare concerns you have
You can read the vet鈥檚 guidance for more information on health and welfare advice, but this is not mandatory.
Get help with your review
Contact the聽RPA聽and give your IAHW agreement number if you need help arranging or completing your review.
Rural Payments Agency
PO Box 352
Worksop
S80 9FG
贰尘补颈濒:听ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk
Telephone: 03000 200 301
Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm, except public holidays
Funding to improve animal health and welfare: guidance for farmers and vets
Updates to this page
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Removed some content to other pages. Updated content.
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Added more information about the agreement that must be in place. Added information about the types of topics to cover in a visit.
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First published.