Animal Health and Welfare Pathway (AHWP)

What is it?

This is government funding made available to farmers to help to support you to improve the health and welfare of your livestock. It is fully funded so all you would need to pay is any work/labs not included in the funding.

Who is eligible?

Any farmer who has:

• A SBI number- 1 claim per SBI at the moment. (Some farms will have more than one dairy on a single SBI and some will have beef and sheep). Hopefully they will open it up to allow more then one application per SBI at some point.

• 11 or more cattle (beef or dairy)

• OR 21 or more sheep

How to apply

Farmers must do this themselves – the QR code will take you straight to the correct page, or click here

The initial form will be an eligibility check, you will then get an email link which will take you to the actual application.

As some of the testing is time/age dependant it would be best to discuss with your vet before applying to ensure you apply at the most appropriate time. Once granted the approval only lasts 6 months.

What does the funding cover?

Cattle – BVD testing through bloods or milk

Sheep- simple drench check

Plus enough to cover a couple of hours of time for your vets to take these samples and carry out a farm specific investigation.

What does the funding not cover?

The funding must not be used to complete a HHP – however the HHP might flag up something you would like to look into in more depth. It also should not be used for fertility work or other routine clinical type work.

The funding will not cover other lab fees but can be used for time to take and discuss additional samples.

Once you have been approved for the funding, phone the practice to book in the visit.

Again we would recommend that you discuss with your vet what you would like to use the funding for and they can help you make the most out of what is available.

What will happen at the visit?

All cattle farms must carry our BVD testing, this may be a bulk tank sample of youngstock blood samples. All sheep farmers will have to carry out a drench check. This will be a Faecal sample taken before lambs are drenched and another 7-14 days after (depending on the wormer) to check if the drench had worked properly.

As well as the required testing your vet may also choose to carry out a farm specific investigation based on what you feel would benefit the health and welfare of your animals. Examples of this would be a mastitis investigation, a pneumonia investigation, an infectious disease audit or a parasite control plan.

After the visit

The practice will charge you directly for the work done which you will need to claim back, once the visit is completed and results have been returned your vet will write a report for you. This report will need submitting for you to claim the funding.