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LIVESTOCK DISEASE – ARE YOU COVERED?

With increased globalisation comes the likelihood that infectious disease appearing in one country will spread rapidly to another. Therefore, the ability to analyse and manage risk is essential.  All too often the economic cost of disease is not the total cost figures usually estimated, the direct costs as well as indirect costs have to be taken into consideration.

All farmers are aware that in a disease outbreak or emergency, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has well-documented contingency plans for how it and its agencies (within central government), its operational partners (including local authorities) and the farming community are expected to respond. The plans detail arrangements for dealing with, controlling and eradicating disease. The farmer is required to:

 

• Identify a range of possible disaster and emergency scenarios
• Identify the welfare implications
• Explore strategies for protecting the welfare of farm animals
• Consider how these strategies might best be incorporated into contingency planning
• Consider roles and responsibilities of livestock keepers/owners

This does not take into account the economic impact to you or your own business, issues which arise from the inability to meet contractual obligations, clear up costs and business resumption. There is a need to for a new perspective and contingency liability insurance cover for livestock disease to protect our UK farmers.

Contingency planning is a mechanism for anticipating and thereby proposing responses to unexpected and unintended events and emergencies. Time is taken to assess the risk and anticipation of possible scenarios, the expected consequences (perhaps based upon experience), preparation to mitigate these consequences, and post-event reconstruction and restitution. Effective contingency planning has to balance the costs of planning for possible scenarios against the likelihood of those events occurring and the severity and cost of that impact.

Keith Fowles says: “We have developed a new insurance concept which is long overdue.  Agricultural contingency liability cover will assess ALL the risk associated with livestock disease, taking into account the direct and indirect costs.

Whether the disease is Avian Influenza (AI), Salmonella, TB or Foot & Mouth to name but a few, contingency liability cover for these diseases will soon be available. It doesn’t simply take into account the cost of direct loss but an in-depth analysis of the risks beyond an outbreak and the long term consequences this may have on your farming operation.

We are delighted to be hosting an event at Welshpool Livestock Market on 5^th September to tell you more about this exciting new product so please come along.”

 

To book please contact Angela Hill:

Email: Angela@klf-Insurance.com

Tel: 01743 234 998