DEPARTMENT FOR
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS News Release (152/07) issued by
The Government News Network on 30 May 2007
Funding of over
£1.6 million has been awarded by Defra to projects across the
country to help farmers improve farm animal health and welfare.
Following an application process, twenty-seven different projects
have received funding for a variety of farm health planning events
and initiatives including farmer training, advice workshops and
the development of farm health planning 'champions'.
Farm health planning means undertaking a range of measures to
proactively manage disease risk on-farm. This involves good
disease record keeping; identifying existing health problems
on-farm and prioritising control measures for these; developing
action plans for specific problems; and assessing whether measures
have been effective and reviewing health plans where necessary.
Minister for Animal Health and Welfare, Ben Bradshaw, welcomed
the initiative:
"Proactive farm health planning has real benefits for
farmers, both in terms of the health of their herds and the
profitability and sustainability of their farms. Disease is not
inevitable and we hope to see real improvements across the
industry as a result of this joint initiative between Government
and industry. I look forward to seeing these exciting projects get
up and running over the coming months."
Tony O'Loughlin from the St David's Farm Practice in
Exmouth, Devon, said:
"My aim is to ensure that all our farms have a working Herd
Health Plan in place within the next 12 months. The Cattle
Initiative funding will enable us to complete this. We will be
setting up farmer discussion groups to share information, with
lectures at local Agriculture colleges to increase awareness among
young farmers. We believe that this approach will help to make our
farmers more aware of the cost effectiveness of good management
and disease control."
For more information on Farm Health Planning and the cattle
initiative, visit http://www.defra.gov.uk/fhp/index.htm
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