Vet threat.

[Wombat]

A once yearly visit is all that's required for pig and poultry farmers too, and only then if they wish to buy prescription medications.

You do realise there might be some sheep farmers that take a bit of 'interest in animal health' too, before you set to work with that broad brush you're holding?

my understanding was you had to sign up to be part of the other sfi bits to get it but I might be wrong.

 

[Wombat]

Surely if vet med visit is done annually so medicines can be bought, then we all have veterinary at least once a year any way.

We don’t but apart from wormers and the like we get from one of the local country stores we hope to have very little need for them to come out to our beef cattle. They are coming out this year though for 4yr tb test

 

[kiwi pom]

It's part of SFI. You can sign up to claim it (or not) and DEFRA will pay you the specified amount as long as you have a vet visit. The idea is probably to encourage more farmers to have vet advice & input.

I'm struggling to see why the OP appears to think it's in any way a 'threat'.

Seems like a good idea to me. Most of the professional livestock farmers I know work closely with vets to improve the health and efficiency of their stock.
There's always a few that know it all though.
Possibly a few that hope a professional doesn't see their stock too?

 

[Still Farming]

Farmers will get free veterinarian visits as part of a Brexit dividend, the Environment Secretary will announce this week.

Annual check-ups for two to three hours will be paid for by the Government and will cover cattle, sheep and pigs.

George Eustice told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Too often farmers only call a vet when there is a crisis, but with an annual vet visit to develop better animal health plans, they will see both animal welfare and their farm profitability improve.’
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Farmers will be given cash payments to cover the visits for their herds at the following rates: £684 for pigs, £436 for sheep, £522 for beef cattle and £372 for dairy cattle per vet visit. They will then negotiate rates with the vet of their choice.

Not devolved nations again probably?

 

[Suffolksucklers]

Will save paying for the herd health plan for farm assurance

 

[Wombat]

Will save paying for the herd health plan for farm assurance

Yeah we are skipping it for this year for this and having to pay the vet every year to sign an empty form to say we don’t use any antibiotics

 

[Wombat]

Seems like a good idea to me. Most of the professional livestock farmers I know work closely with vets to improve the health and efficiency of their stock.
There's always a few that know it all though.
Possibly a few that hope a professional doesn't see their stock too?

As long as you don’t have to sign up for all the other Sfi crap I don’t disagree

 

[Cowabunga]

Surely dairy farmers have the vet out more than once a year?

Ours is here on routine PDing every fortnight as a minimum

Yes, ours is here as a routine for fertility performance evaluation and treatment monthly, at which they also look at any other non-urgent issues we have, and often in between routine visits for more urgent issues. I spend a minimum of £15,000 annually for veterinary services excluding pedicures, so the £375 is a tiny drop in the ocean. It will pay for one fertility visit on average at this time of year. I’m not complaining about it, as ‘every little helps’.

 

[Old Boar]

I used to have student vets here for a week to learn about pigs. Unfortunately Wild Boar are not the best when it comes to treatment - its get over it or a bullet. But by observing they could see a healthy pig behaviour, and their interaction with other pigs. Some students were good and some were not practical in any way - lifting a bucket of water to pour rather than through the gate type of thing. Some came in the butchery and spent half an hour doing one cut, one came on the stall and cut the rolls vertically...

So if you already have a set visit regularly, can you set one visit as the paid for one, or do you have to have an extra one?

 

[farmerm]

Which pot of money is this going to come from ?

The former BPS pot... they taketh away and then giveth to others more deserving than farmers

 

[Cowabunga]

The former BPS pot... they taketh away and then giveth to others more deserving than farmers

Yes, like those that dream up and administer these schemes. The money obviously only passes through the farmer’s hands fleetingly and retrospectively. Farmer pays out for the work first and then reclaims to be paid at some later date. In other words this is money that goes to vets, not farmers with an unknown but probably large proportion of the total cost to the taxpayer being absorbed by the administration by public servants. More jobs for the boys.

 

[Jimdog1]

Once yearly visit is all that is needed for the sheep job.

Pigs and poultry farmers, serious ones at least, have far more interest in animal health than would be the norm in agriculture in general.

Not sure that's right. We keep sheep and poultry and the sheep require far more antibiotics than the chickens. Frequently go from one flock of birds to the next with no treatment. The sheep however - God should have designed them with wheels.

 

[ollie989898]

Not sure that's right. We keep sheep and poultry and the sheep require far more antibiotics than the chickens. Frequently go from one flock of birds to the next with no treatment. The sheep however - God should have designed them with wheels.

Why do your chickens require so much more antibiotics? I find that a frightening revelation personally.

Sheep around here don't seem to ever require antibiotics, shelter or even food sometimes. Some of the animals I have seen in the past needed shooting.

 

[Batty]

A once yearly visit is all that's required for pig and poultry farmers too, and only then if they wish to buy prescription medications.

You do realise there might be some sheep farmers that take a bit of 'interest in animal health' too, before you set to work with that broad brush you're holding?

A once yearly visit is all that's required for pig and poultry farmers too, and only then if they wish to buy prescription medications.

You do realise there might be some sheep farmers that take a bit of 'interest in animal health' too, before you set to work with that broad brush you're holding?

Quarterly vet visit and report for dead tractor by a vet registered with pig vet society and as 96% of pigs are assured BECAUSE WE ALL THINK THERE SUCH GREAT VALUE that covers most of the industry.

 

[Cowabunga]

Not sure that's right. We keep sheep and poultry and the sheep require far more antibiotics than the chickens. Frequently go from one flock of birds to the next with no treatment. The sheep however - God should have designed them with wheels.

Why do your chickens require so much more antibiotics? I find that a frightening revelation personally.

Sheep around here don't seem to ever require antibiotics, shelter or even food sometimes. Some of the animals I have seen in the past needed shooting.

Your frightening revelation seems to be another of your misinterpretations.
Sheep require antibiotics mainly for foot infections, eye infections and issues with birth and mastitis and fly strike in Summer. Just some of the many normal things that kill sheep in the field if not inspected and treated very promptly indeed. Good husbandry reduces losses but sheep are very delicate animals and seem to often have a death wish. I don’t keep them.

 

[kiwi pom]

As long as you don’t have to sign up for all the other Sfi crap I don’t disagree

yes if its just a back door way to get you to sign up for something then don't do it, its only a few hundred quid. Those already using a vet as part of their operation should be seeing more benefit than that, so vet involvement outside of emergencies, should pay for itself anyway.

 

[Jimdog1]

Why do your chickens require so much more antibiotics? I find that a frightening revelation personally.

Sheep around here don't seem to ever require antibiotics, shelter or even food sometimes. Some of the animals I have seen in the past needed shooting.

???

 

[Tarw Coch]

Why do your chickens require so much more antibiotics? I find that a frightening revelation personally.

Sheep around here don't seem to ever require antibiotics, shelter or even food sometimes. Some of the animals I have seen in the past needed shooting.

Think you need to read the post you quoted again.

 

[neilo]

Not devolved nations again probably?

In that it’s part of the new DEFRA support schemes in England, I suppose it is.

As posted above, similar programs have been going in Wales for a couple of years already. The Farming Connect funding currently is for £250 of vet investigation work. A decade ago you could access 80% funding for vet work into a chosen topic, up to about £1800 annually iirc. It was all paid for from money that we would otherwise have received as BPS, but routed through FC instead.

 

[yellowbelly]

The cynic in me says we will suddenly see our annual sheep visit charge rise from about £60 to £463