Latest Ruminant Health & Welfare news
During a 2024 Ruminant Health & Welfare (RH&W) Steering Group meeting, representatives from the Scottish, Welsh, and English governments provided updates on their animal health and welfare initiatives.
Each nation’s approach reflects unique regional challenges, but a shared commitment to advancing welfare, improving productivity, and meeting sustainability goals was clear to see.
“Animal health and welfare are central to enhancing overall farm profitability, sustainability, and reducing farm emissions,” said RH&W chairman Gwyn Jones.
“While the approaches by the devolved nations may differ, it’s clear that they are united in their commitment to healthier livestock and sustainable farming.”
Shared priorities
The meeting emphasised three key areas of synergy across the devolved nations and the strategic goals of RH&W:
- Disease prevention and control: Reducing the prevalence of endemic diseases to boost productivity and minimise antibiotic use.
- Sustainable livestock systems: Aligning health and welfare strategies with environmental goals to help reduce emissions.
- Farmer engagement: Empowering farmers with the knowledge and resources to adopt best practices, often through collaboration with their vet.
Mr Jones said: “Good health and welfare doesn’t just benefit the animals; it can reduce environmental impact, and increase profitability and farm business resilience. Collaboration across the nations is key to driving progress.”
Scottish priorities
Scotland is currently transitioning from its Preparing for Sustainable Farming (PSF) initiative, which ends in December 2024.
PSF has provided financial incentives for carbon audits, soil analysis, and efficiency measures, as well as payments tied to nine specific Animal Health and Welfare Interventions introduced in 2023.
From May 2025, Scottish farmers will need to adopt a Whole Farm Plan to access Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) funding.
These plans will require at least two of five key components, including livestock health and welfare planning, carbon audits, soil analysis, integrated pest management, and biodiversity audits.
“Scotland’s Whole Farm Plan approach links financial support to meaningful actions, ensuring farmers are incentivised to improve both animal health and environmental outcomes,” said Mr Jones.
“It’s a balanced approach that considers the realities of remote farming, with practical adaptations for crofters and smaller-scale farmers.”
Additionally, the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme will continue from April 2025, tightening its criteria to incentivise shorter calving intervals and healthier herds.
Welsh priorities
Wales is set to launch its Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) in January 2026, underpinned by the Agriculture Act.
A central feature is the Animal Health Improvement Cycle (AHIC), which proposes to support structured and sustained farmer and vet collaborative, preventive health planning. This will be in an annual cycle involving measurement of key health and production metrics, planning measures to improve performance, carrying out actions and reviewing effectiveness.
An initial AHIC pilot involving 60 farms and 22 vets has received positive feedback, particularly for fostering better farmer-vet collaboration.
Veterinary capacity to deliver the AHIC to Welsh livestock businesses will be dependant on practices preparing adequately to resource the veterinary time commitment. In part practices can potentially resource through increased use of Approved TB Testers (ATTs), and also through alignment of veterinary visits with farm assurance visits.
“The Welsh plan stands out for its focus on biosecurity and lameness, aligning with two of RH&W’s six strategic welfare priorities,” said Mr Jones.
“Biosecurity assessments will help farmers identify risks, particularly for sheep flocks grazing on common land, while lameness interventions will equip farmers with the skills to tackle a significant welfare challenge, which is a strategic goal in both our cattle and sheep welfare strategy.”
Further targeted farm level support will be available through optional and collaborative layers of the SFS which are in development.
English priorities
England’s Animal Health and Welfare Pathway (AHWP) has made significant progress, with more than 8,000 farmers already participating.
The scheme provides funding for infrastructure improvements, equipment, and tailored veterinary support, including 2-3 hours of vet time, bespoke advice, and disease testing for conditions such as Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) in cattle and faecal egg count tests in sheep.
Farmers can also receive follow-up payments to implement disease eradication measures, with funding available for up to three reviews and follow-up visits between now and June 2027.
“This is a robust approach that builds an evidence base while fostering collaboration between farmers, vets, and advisors,” said Mr Jones.
“It’s a model that aligns closely with RH&W’s strategy to reduce disease prevalence through practical, evidence-based interventions.”
Key differences and opportunities for collaboration
While the three nations share common goals, differences exist in their implementation timelines, funding structures and focus areas.
For example, England and Scotland provide funding for diagnostics as part of their health plans, while Wales expects farmers to bear this cost.
Wales, however, is placing a strong emphasis on tackling body condition and lameness – two areas it identifies as significant sources of welfare compromise on Welsh farms.
As part of this focus, the Sustainable Farming Scheme will fund online proficiency training for farmers, equipping them to assess and address these issues effectively.
“These are areas we have also highlighted in the Ruminant Health & Welfare strategy,” said Mr Jones.
“By targeting lameness and body condition scoring, Wales is addressing core welfare challenges that have a direct impact on productivity and animal wellbeing.
“The online practical training will equip farmers with the tools and knowledge to drive real improvements.”
Mr Jones said the shared priorities between the devolved nation’s strategies and the RH&W strategies provided a solid foundation for improving ruminant health and welfare, sustainability and reducing emissions into the future.
To ensure a joined-up approach across the UK, outcomes from initiatives within the devolved strategies will help to evidence progress towards our 5-year Welfare Strategies in our interim reports, when published.
As government plans evolve, Ruminant Health & Welfare will continue to facilitate dialogue, to ensure animal health remains at the heart of sustainable farming practices.