Two thousand South West farmers can’t be wrong

In this age of cut backs a South West college has been awarded over five million pounds to launch a ground breaking scheme that will transform the way farmers keep their cattle healthy. The Rural Business School at Duchy College in Cornwall is running the initiative and it’s hoped it will one day be launched on a national basis. The Healthy Livestock Project has been set up to fight disease by allowing farmers to have more contact with vets.

Paul Ward: Manager Healthy Livestock Project, “By spending money were actually saving money. Nobody likes to pay to say have their car serviced but in the long run it probably saves on repair bills. With a growing population it’s imperative that the livestock we have are healthy. This scheme enables farmers to claim up to seventy percent of their costs to fight disease. The farmer can use it to combat high profile things such as mastitis, Bovine Viral Diarrhea, Johne’s disease, and lameness which have cost this industry millions of pounds over the last few years.”

One of the major aspects of the scheme is to provide training and educational courses for farmers by vets and livestock consultants.

Dick Sibley; Devon based vet, “Prevention is the name of the game these days. We take training courses around the whole region, so one day we might be in say Cornwall the next Wiltshire. Thanks to the Healthy Livestock Project we can keep farmers up to date with the latest techniques that are being used around the world to fight diseases. This scheme has cost around five million pounds to set up but we reckon it will save around three times that amount. “

The project is still in its early days but the initial up take has been very promising with more than two thousand farmers having already signed up .its now hoped the scheme will be rolled out on a national basis.

Martin Howlett: Cornish farmer, “A healthy animal is a productive animal, everybody is looking to make savings in the current economic climate. At one time you could maybe get away with having the odd animal culled and a few that produced less milk and meat, but thats no longer the case. Thanks to this scheme I feel Im now better prepared to cope with any potential problems and the great thing is seventy percent of my costs are covered.”

The Healthy Livestock project is led by the Rural Business School at Duchy College, in Stoke Climsland, near Callington, Cornwall and funded by the Rural Development Programme for England which receives backing from the European Union and DEFRA.

Dave Linell, Principal, of Cornwall College, The Rural Business School is currently carrying out extensive research into how effective the scheme is. Results are expected to indicate the initiative will reduce disease in some areas by as much as twenty five percent.