Herd Health Planning

We believe that thorough and effective Herd Health Planning is an essential component of modern livestock farms.

The identification of “pinch points” on a farm that are draining resources or reducing profitability is the first part of the process. An assessment of the impact that these are having on a farms profitability and a sensible, practical action plan to minimise that impact is the next crucial stage, and we can help to achieve this.

We believe that it is essential for us to have full and up to date information on the disease status of each and every farm, as well as having full and up to date information on the performance of the herd from the herd calving interval to the number of culls each year.

We have a system of routinely taking bulk-milk samples in order to build up a disease profile for your herd and acquire all necessary information concerning the presence of common diseases such as Lepto, BVD & IBR and also other diseases such as Liver Fluke, Johnes disease and Schmallenberg (SBV). Blood samples are then sometimes taken to clarify the picture further and help in disease control.

Having established a farm’s status we will usually recommend either vaccination, a combination of vaccination and further testing, improvements in bio-security or active monitoring by means of quarterly tests as required.

We actively promote vaccination where necessary and keep our vaccines at very reasonable prices to ensure that herd vaccination provides a cost benefit to you.

Farm audits and farm assurance schemes will require herd health plans, which we are happy to produce on request. We aim to have thorough herd health reviews well in advance of impending farm inspections and feel that, when done properly, these will be dynamic plans that will bring value to your business and not just an annual paper exercise. We play as active a part as we can in helping you to avoid mistakes which could result in both a herd-health and a financial disaster.

We use myhealthyherd.co.uk to help in co-ordinating many herd health plans.