In this issue
- Grant Funding 2025 - finally, an update!
- Red Tractor - changes you need to know about
- Schmallenberg - more cases and free testing available
- Preparing ahead for the fly season - could parasitic wasps help?
- National Johne's Management Plan - Phase 3
- Johne's Meeting 19th March - an update on Phase 3 of National Johne's Management Plan at Wood Lane Farm
- ELMS & SFI Survey - could you spare 5 mins to help Emma Hockenhull's final year research project?
Grant Funding 2025 - finally, an update!
There's been a long delay on news of further grant funding but we've finally had an official update following the NFU conference on 25th Feb.
Higher Level Stewardship:
- increasing Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) payment rates - further details to come from RPA this month
Capital Grants:
- this will re-open in the summer and the RPA are now processing the applications that were submitted before 24th Nov 2024 and kept on hold. There has been reassurance that every application submitted in Nov 2024 will be processed and if approved, funding will be received as planned
Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier:
- RPA will be inviting farmers and land managers to begin the pre-application process ahead of the applications opening in summer 2025
Farming Equipment & Technology Fund (FETF):
- Another round of grant funding for items will open this Spring - full item lists and guidance will be published shortly; we'll send you the details on email as soon as they are available.
- There's a budget of £30m for Productivity and Slurry, and £16.7m for Animal Health & Welfare.
Animal Health & Welfare Pathway (AHWP):
- you can now apply for a fully funded vet visit for multiple species and from Summer 2025 for multiple herds/flocks
- you will need an SBI number and:
- there is funding for an initial vet review, as well as "follow-up" funding:
To apply for your Animal Health & Welfare Review click on the link below:
Once you've had notification that your application has been successful, let us know and we can start the booking process for doing your Vet Review or Follow up visit.
Red Tractor - changes you need to know about
There were a few changes to the Red Tractor standards that came into effect on 1st Feb 2025 that affects all livestock farms.
Red Tractor is introducing some updates to its standards on the use of antibiotics to keep up to date with new prescribing rules in place from the Veterinary Medicines Directorate.
"Just in case" use of antibiotics
Lots of the changes relate to "prophylaxis" - this is where vets occasionally prescribe antibiotics "just in case" to prevent disease rather than prescribing antibiotics for treating existing disease.
1. "Just in case" use of antibiotics is banned except in exceptional circumstances
From 1 February 2025, the routine use of antibiotics to prevent disease is banned, except in exceptional circumstances. This applies to all Red Tractor livestock and poultry farms. This means as vets we cannot depend on prescribing antibiotics to prevent disease that could be otherwise prevented by improvements to management, hygiene or husbandry.
2. Vets must provide a clear reason for every "just in case" antibiotic prescription
Starting from February 2025, our reason for prescribing antibiotics "just in case" to prevent disease has got to be recorded for each treatment and you would need a copy of this for your Red Tractor audit.
3: Management review for "just in case" group treatment
If we do prescribe antibiotics "just in case" to a group via in-feed, in-water or in milk/milk replacer we will also need to do a "management review" within 3 months of the group treatment. This document would need to be available for your Red Tractor inspection.
At Haywood Farm Vets we work really hard with our clients to prevent disease using better husbandry, improved hygiene and the targeted use of vaccines. This means we very rarely (if ever!) prescribe antibiotics "just in case" and almost never to a group of animals so these changes should have minimal effect on any of us.
Medicated Feed Prescriptions
Starting in February 2025, Red Tractor assessors will be checking that medicated feed prescriptions include certain key information to include:
- The species of animal, the number of animals, and their ID
- The diagnosed disease being treated or prevented
- The name, active substance, amount of product prescribed, and inclusion rates (both medicinal premix and active ingredient)
- The overall amount of feed to be supplied under the prescription
Red Tractor auditors will also check that farmers are using medicated feed exactly as prescribed.
All these details are included on our in-feed prescriptions as standard, so again, no big changes here.
Changes specific to Dairy Standards
Antibiotic stewardship is key for dairy farmers and essential for maintaining Red Tractor membership while ensuring milk quality. Two key measures will be introduced from February 2025:
1. Dry Cow Therapy
The updated Red Tractor Dairy standards will require specific reference to antibiotic dry cow therapy in both the Health Plan and the Health and Performance Review. This will make sure that antibiotic dry cow therapy is regularly discussed with farmers, helping to keep strategies for managing dry periods robust while supporting antibiotic stewardship.
At Haywood Farm Vets we monitor dry period "success" using milk recording data as well as use of antibiotic dry cow therapy in your medicine review, and so this is all included as standard in your annual herd health plan.
2. Medicine Training Refresher:
Dairy farmers and their staff will need to refresh their medicine training every five years to keep up with the latest practices in responsible medicine use.
At least one person on the unit must have undergone training in the last five years – either a refresher course to follow a course taken previously, or a full course approved by Red Tractor if it’s the person’s first training in this area.
Our "HFV Medicine Matters" training is a Red Tractor approved course and both Paula and Tom are "Milksure" accredited trainers - we can also do bespoke medicine training for larger teams on farm.
3. Bulk Tank Failure Investigations:
If a farm experiences two antibiotic bulk tank failures within a rolling 12-month period, we'll need to complete the BCVA or Dairy UK investigation form with you. This helps identify the causes and take corrective actions to prevent future failures.
Changes specific to Beef & Lamb Standards
The report from your fully funded "Animal Health & Welfare Review" vet visit can be used for:
- the "Data Review" section of your Herd Health Plan
- the "BVD control plan" in your Herd Health Plan
- your "Biosecurity plan" section of your Herd Health Plan
Schmallenberg - more cases and free testing available
APHA has confirmed Schmallenberg virus has been the cause of lambs and calves being born deformed in January and February across the UK and we've had some suspect deformed calves born in the last few weeks.
APHA will continue to offer free testing in 2025 on samples from lambs, kids and calves born with twisted, fused or malformed limbs. We would need to take a brain sample from the affected animal, plus some blood samples from 6 cows or heifers, or 6 ewes, including the dams of the affected calves/lambs.
Please let us know if you are having some odd lambs or calves born and want to make use of this free-of-charge surveillance sampling.
Preparing ahead for the fly season - could parasitic wasps help?
Spring is now on it’s way, and it is time to start thinking about fly control for the coming summer months.
You will be familiar with the traditional methods of controlling flies - pour-on treatments, fly sprays in the parlour and so on. But there is a natural alternative that can help to reduce total fly numbers without the need to depend so much on chemical insecticides.
Biological Fly Control:
Biological fly controls are widely used on pig and poultry units, but are relatively new to the cattle industry. This method makes use of natural mini-wasps to reduce the adult breeding population and therefore reduce the total numbers of flies present on a farm throughout the year.
How does it work?
Mini-wasp eggs are delivered to your farm every 2 weeks through the fly breeding season and we distribute them into fly breeding hot spots. The mini-wasp eggs hatch over the next few days and go on the hunt for developing fly eggs. The tiny wasp burrows into the fly egg, eats the developing fly and lays her own egg in there. This means instead of a fly, you get a new mini-wasp hatching and increasing numbers of mini-wasps on farm; each female mini-wasp kills 100 fly eggs in her lifetime.
The parasitic wasps that we use only target nuisance flies and will never target beneficial species such as Honey Bees. The species that we release do exist naturally in the UK, but are not present in large enough numbers to have an impact on the large fly populations that exist around livestock units.
Starting to release the parasites right at the beginning of the fly breeding season (mid to late April depending on the weather) will allow them to have the maximum impact on the overall fly population, with regular top-ups throughout the season keeping on top of the problem. Putting the brakes on the nuisance fly population allows reduced use of insecticide products over time and can help to reduce antimicrobial usage by making diseases such as summer mastitis less likely.
Get in touch with Tom if you want any more information on how these parasitic wasps could fit into your fly strategy for 2025.
National Johne's Management Plan - Phase 3
The National Johne’s Management Plan (NJMP) was developed by the Action Group on Johne’s as an approach to be taken by the UK dairy industry to control and reduce the incidence of Johne’s disease in the national dairy herd.
The initiative so far has been delivered in two phases:
Phase 1 which ran from 1st April 2015 to 31st December 2017, primarily focused on education and engagement.
Phase 2 started in 2018 and is currently ongoing. Phase 2 makes sure dairy farmers and their vet are discussing Johne's control each year and implementing one of the six control strategies. This discussion needs signing off each year with a Johne's declaration which is included in your herd health plan.
Phase 3 starts on 1st April 2025 and starts to track progress and put in place targets for 2030 - making more use of the individual cow testing results that you all have invested in.
Johne's Meeting: 19th March
If you're interested to know more about Phase 3, make sure you RSVP and come along to our Johne's meeting at Wood Lane Farm, Wednesday March 19th, 10am - 1pm for an update on the National Johne's Management Plan as well as a review of your Johne's data, some anonymous benchmarking and a farm walk looking at practical ways to reduce Johne's disease.
ELMS & SFI Survey
Could you spare 5 mins to help Emma Hockenhull's final year research project?
"As part of my final-year Honours Research Project at Harper Adams University, I am investigating "Agricultural Policy-Induced Shifts in UK Dairy Farming: A Study Based on Farmers Behavioural Responses to ELMS and SFI Schemes".
"If you have 5-10 minutes spare, I would appreciate if you could complete my survey using the link below. Your responses will be very valuable to my research!".
Thanks, Emma
Get in touch
Paula: 07764 747855 paula@haywoodfarmvets.com
Tom: 07837 291097 tom@haywoodfarmvets.com
Katie: 07507 656747 katie@haywoodfarmvets.com
Open hours: M-F | 8:30 - 16:30
Out of Hours: 01630 810016