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ARCHIVE: Farm health planning: What is proactive FHP?

Proactive Farm Health Planning concerns good practice in managing livestock health and welfare risks and issues on the farm.  It is a year-round process of measuring, managing and monitoring livestock health and performance tailored to the circumstances of the enterprise.  A farm health plan is a tool to that end but is not the main focus nor is it always a prerequisite to active planning.  Key to the process though is the relationship between the animal keeper and his or her vet and other advisers.

Proactive FHP reduces diseases and increases performance and productivity – “Health Animals, Health Profits.”  FHP is increasingly recognised for its contribution to reducing the environmental impacts of farming too.

Key themes of proactive FHP are:

  • Measure – know your base-line, identifying the impact of health on the performance of stock, using good record keeping to allow benchmarking, identification of problem areas.
  • Manage – Deal with the most pressing health issues in a planned way – prioritising control measures for these problems using cost/benefits calculations and the most effective management methods.  Development of action plans for specific issues.
  • Monitor – As the year progresses check effectiveness of the plan, using good recording; assessing whether measures have been effective and ensuring that health plans are reviewed/revised accordingly.

Page last modified: March 31, 2010
Page published: March 31, 2010

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