£8.2 million boost for region’s livestock sector

July 2010

The South West TB Advisory Service – the first phase of a £8.2 million ground-breaking support package to improve the profitability of the South West livestock sector - has gone live.

The South West Healthy Livestock Initiative (SWHLI) is a group of nine projects aimed at helping farmers improve their profits, increasing the health and welfare of their stock and improving quality of meat, milk, hides, fleece, etc.

The sector makes a significant contribution to the economy being worth approximately £2 billion to the region at the farm gate, and a quarter of the national population of livestock is reared in South West England and.

SWHLI projects will go live over the summer and together they will increase the knowledge and skills of farmers in subjects such as genetics, nutrition, fertility, the environment and control and treatment of diseases.

The investment is funded by the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) which is managed by the South West RDA in this region.

The innovative programme will involve farmers working with vets and other groups, including the National Animal Disease Information Service. Training, which will cover ruminants, pigs and poultry, will be delivered on farms rather than in the classroom.

First to go live was the independent South West TB Farm Advisory Service (SWTBFAS), hosted by the NFU, with trained and practical advisers who will visit farmers to give free, individual advice on mitigating the risk of herds contracting TB, as well as measures to reduce the impact of TB on farms which already have the disease.

More information on the TB service can be found by visiting www.southwest-tbadvice.co.uk and more information on the other projects will be available, as they go live, on this website.