Farm health planning and biosecurity
Updated 13 June 2024
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2024
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Farm health planning is a Defra initiative which benefits farmers by helping to prevent disease and improve the performance of their livestock. This can help to reduce GHG emissions over the course of an animal’s lifetime by, for example, reaching finishing weights earlier and achieving higher feed conversion rates. Farm health planning is about farmers working closely with their vets or other advisers to set targets for their animals’ health and welfare and take steps to measure, manage and monitor productivity.
Figure 1 Proportion of livestock holdings with a Farm Health Plan
| Year | Written or recorded plan | Unrecorded plan | No plan | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 63% | 10% | 27% | 100% |
| 2020 | 66% | 9% | 25% | 100% |
| 2021 | 60% | 11% | 29% | 100% |
| 2022 | 59% | 14% | 27% | 100% |
| 2023 | 61% | 12% | 27% | 100% |
In 2023, 73% of livestock farms had a Farm Health Plan (FHP) and the majority of these were written or recorded. This has remained largely unchanged in recent years (Figure 1). Of those livestock farms with a farm health plan in 2023, 85% completed the plan with the assistance of a vet or advisor. This figure has risen steadily over the past decade from 65% in 2012.
Most farms with a Farm Health Plan used it either routinely or when possible, when making decisions about disease management in 2023. This has increased when compared to recent years (Figure 2).
Figure 2 Proportion of livestock holdings with a Farm Health Plan by frequency of use to inform disease management decisions
| Year | Use plan routinely | Use plan when possible | Don’t use plan but feel the need to | Don’t feel the need to use plan | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 55% | 33% | 4% | 7% | 100% |
| 2020 | 61% | 29% | 3% | 6% | 100% |
| 2021 | 57% | 33% | 5% | 6% | 100% |
| 2022 | 55% | 29% | 5% | 11% | 100% |
| 2023 | 58% | 32% | 3% | 7% | 100% |
The proportion of livestock farms undertaking animal health & welfare and disease management training has risen steadily from 50% in 2011 when the survey began, to 69% in 2023. In more recent years, the proportion that undertake this type of training routinely has also increased, rising from 22% in 2019 to 30% in 2023 (Figure 3).
Figure 3 Proportion of livestock holdings undertaking animal health & welfare and disease management training
| Year | Undertake training routinely | Undertake training when possible | Don’t undertake training but feel the need to | Don’t feel training is necessary | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 22% | 38% | 10% | 30% | 100% |
| 2020 | 24% | 41% | 10% | 25% | 100% |
| 2021 | 25% | 36% | 11% | 29% | 100% |
| 2022 | 27% | 38% | 8% | 27% | 100% |
| 2023 | 30% | 40% | 8% | 22% | 100% |