This is the first part of the ‘Get funding to improve animal health and welfare’ (IAHW) service. It will include:  

• assessment of diseases and conditions 
• advice on improving animal health, welfare and productivity

You must have an IAHW agreement before you do a review, you should provide your vet with your IAHW agreement number. A review usually takes between 2 and 3 hours. It can happen:

• over several visits
• in a single visit

During the review: sampling for disease testing

You must ask the vet to take samples for the required tests.

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 thisit is not mandatory.mandatory to.

Required testing

You should follow this for each herd or flock you test.

Species	Test type	Minimum number of samples taken from:
Beef cattle	Bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD)(BVD) blood (serum antibody test)	5 unvaccinated cattle aged 9 to 18 months per management group in up to 2 groups
Dairy cattle	Bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD)(BVD) bulk milk test. The farmer can take the bulk milk sample without the vet, if confident in doing so	A representative milk sample from the bulk tank
Sheep	Wormer treatment check. The farmer can collect faeces samples, if confident in doing so	Minimum of 10 lambs less than 12 months old. If you have less than 10 lambs on your farm, you can still apply, but you must test all lambs in your flock
Pigs	Test for porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS)(PRRS) antibodies. This test uses the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)(ELISA) method	Minimum of 30 pigs sampled using 5 oral fluid ropes

You can:

• arrange your review to fit in with your existing testing schedule if you’re already testing for these diseases or conditions
• use review test results for other accreditation schemes you’re a member of. Check with the accreditation scheme that they will accept testing from the review

You cannot use other accreditation scheme test results for this review funding.

If you ask the vet to test for other medical conditions or diseases, you must pay for that separately.

During the review: health and welfare advice

You must ask the vet to give you health and welfare advice about your livestock. You can discuss any related animal health and welfare topic, as well as topics like:

• biosecurity
• medicine usage
• any other health or 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 review: written report

You must ask the vet to give you a written report that gives:

• all assessment and test results
• recommended actions

The report should be a specific report for this review.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and Rural Payments Agency (RPA) will not ask to see the report.

After the review: vet summary

You must ask the vet to give you a summary of the review. 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.mandatory for you to read the vet guidance, but select the links below if you want to know more about:

• what must be included in a review summary for cattle
• what must be included in a review summary for pigs
• what must be included in a review 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

Get help with your review

Contact the the RPA and and give your IAHW agreement number if you need help arranging or completing your review.

Funding to improve animal health and welfare: guidance for farmers and vets