A new initiative has been launched nationwide that allows sheep farmers to share the cost and benefits of veterinary advice.

Cost effective but retaining quality

The bew Flock Health Clubs initiative, founded by Flock Health Ltd, will allow farmers with smaller numbers of sheep to share the cost of veterinary advice while maintaining regular and quality contact with sheep-interested vets within a practice.

This has been tested as a pilot scheme and proven effective. Vets so far have reported improved relationships with their sheep farmers through more regular contact. Other benefits arising from the initiative include an increase in the veterinary involvement on these sheep farms and a steady sheep income to the practice via monthly club subscriptions from the farmer members.

Fiona Lovatt, Director of Flock Health Ltd, believes that it was time that a cost effective solution for quality care and advice was offered to sheep farmers. She spoke to Farming UK about the new initiative. “Sheep farmers really value quality advice given by keen sheep vets, but there is often a belief that it is too costly to get their vet involved.

“Historically there has been quite a mismatch between the service that vets provide and what their sheep farmer clients are prepared to pay for so, 15 months ago, we set up some pilot Flock Health Clubs at practices in the north east and west of England.”

Working together

The initiative has seen success so far up and down the country, with sheep farmers also benefiting from the opportunities to compare basic flock data and discuss areas for improvement.

This summer there are events throughout the UK in which vets interested in starting a club within their practice can gain the skills and inspiration to do so.

Fiona expresses that farmers should be encouraging their vet to attend one of these interactive events, which will include training in how to start up and run a Flock Health Club. “They will be given opportunities to try out various resources for collecting flock performance and farm economic data for group benchmarking. The main emphasis will be on sharing practical examples and top tips.”

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