Vets: how to do an animal health and welfare review and endemic disease follow-up
Check what to do when you visit a farm for a review or follow-up. This includes details of testing, how to advise the farmer, and what information you need to provide.
Applies to England
This service is called ‘Get funding to improve animal health and welfare’. It forms part of the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway. It’s designed to help farmers:
- test for endemic diseases and conditions
- increase animal productivity
- improve animal welfare
There are 2 parts to the service:
- animal health and welfare review
- endemic disease follow-up
A follow-up can only be done after a review. For the farmer to be eligible to claim funding, they must follow the timing rules. To help the farmer follow the timing rules, you can read more about timing of reviews and follow-ups.
Reviews and follow-ups are not inspections or audits.
Who can take part
A farmer is eligible if they keep any of the following:
- 11 or more beef cattle
- 11 or more dairy cattle
- 21 or more sheep
- 51 or more pigs
Endemic disease follow-up is not available for dairy cattle yet. This part of the service will be available soon.
Arrange a review or follow-up
The farmer will contact you to arrange a review or follow-up.
Review and follow-ups do not have a set time, but they typically take between 2 and 3 hours.
The farmer can agree with you to do a review or follow-up either:
- over several visits to the farm
- in a single visit
What a farmer will ask you to do
The farmer will ask you to follow the steps in the review guidance or follow-up guidance.
Required testing
The vet guidance has information on:
- testing and specifications a laboratory needs to meet
- what you need to include in a summary and written report
Read the guidance on:
- cattle review and follow-up testing
- pigs review and follow-up testing
- sheep review and follow-up testing
Other schemes
The farmer cannot use other accreditation scheme test results for this funding.
They can use the review or follow-up test results for other accreditation schemes they’re a member of. They should also check with the accreditation scheme that they’ll accept testing from the review or follow-up.
Funding to improve animal health and welfare: guidance for farmers and vets