Farmers and vets: what happens on an endemic disease follow-up
Find out what farmers must ask vets to do during a follow-up, and what documentation farmers need from vets.
Applies to England
This is the second part of the ‘Get funding to improve animal health and welfare’ service. It will include:
- further assessment of diseases and conditions based on your review results (this is carried out on the same species as the review and will help you better understand and prevent disease spread)
- further advice on improving animal health, welfare and productivity
You must have an Improve Animal Health and Welfare (IAHW) agreement in place before you do a follow-up. You should provide your vet with your IAHW agreement number. A follow-up usually takes between 2 and 3 hours. It can happen:
- over several visits
- in a single visit
Endemic disease follow-up is not available for dairy cattle yet. This part of the service will be available soon.
You must ask the vet to complete the following steps before you claim.
During the follow-up: sampling for disease or condition testing
You must ask the vet to do the required sampling and testing. It will differ depending on:
- the species you have chosen
- the result of your review
You must ask your vet to read the vet’s guidance on the required sampling and testing. You will only be eligible for funding if the vet follows this guidance. You can also read the vet’s guidance for details of the required testing, but it is not mandatory to.
You can:
- arrange your follow-up to fit in with your existing testing schedule if you’re already testing for the relevant diseases or conditions
- use follow-up test results for other accreditation schemes you’re a member of (check with the accreditation scheme that they will accept testing from the follow-up)
You cannot use other accreditation scheme test results for this follow-up funding.
If you ask the vet to test for other medical conditions or diseases, you must pay for that separately.
During the follow-up: biosecurity assessment
You must ask the vet to assess biosecurity on your farm. It will differ depending on:
- the species you have chosen
- the result of your review
You should ask your vet to read the guidance for biosecurity assessments for each species:
- what must be included in a follow-up summary for beef cattle
- what must be included in a follow-up summary for pigs
- what must be included in a follow-up summary for sheep
During the follow-up: health and welfare advice
You must ask the vet to give you health and welfare advice about your livestock. You may discuss topics such as:
- biosecurity
- medicine usage
- any other health and welfare concerns you have
You can read the vet’s guidance for more information on health and welfare advice, but it is not mandatory to.
After the follow-up: written report
You must ask the vet to give you a written report that gives:
- all assessment and results
- recommended actions
The report should be a specific report for this follow-up.
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and Rural Payments Agency (RPA) will not ask to see the report.
After the follow-up: vet summary
You must ask the vet to give you a summary of the follow-up. The summary gives the information you need to make a claim.
The summary must be a separate document. It can be a digital or paper version. When you claim, the RPA may ask to see it as evidence.
It is not mandatory for you to read the vet guidance, but you can if you want to know more about:
- what must be included in a follow-up summary for beef cattle
- what must be included in a follow-up summary for pigs
- what must be included in a follow-up summary for sheep
You can also ask the vet to include a vet attestation number in the summary.
You’ll need this number if one or both of the following enter the food chain and may be exported to the EU:
- livestock you produce
- animal products derived from your livestock
You do not need to ask the vet for a vet attestation number if you already did this for your review.
Get help with your follow-up
Contact the RPA and give your agreement number if you need help arranging or completing your follow-up.
Rural Payments Agency
PO Box 352
Worksop
S80 9FG
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 03000 200 301
Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm, except public holidays
Funding to improve animal health and welfare: guidance for farmers and vets
Updates to this page
Published 19 June 2024Last updated 14 October 2024 + show all updates
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Added information about Biosecurity assessments including links to the guidance for each species. Added the full name of the agreement.
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Added details about the follow-up being on the same species as the review.
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First published.