All RDAs across England are closing by March 2012
(see transition and closure section).
With our resources reducing steadily, this page has not been recently updated and the information below may not be current.
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£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 – went live at the
end of June.
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 can be found on the TB service website and
more information on the other projects will be available, as they
go live, on the Rural Development Gateway web site.