One week left to apply for FETF 24 animal health and welfare grants
24th Apr 2024 / By Alistair Driver
Farmers now have just one week left to apply for useful animal health and welfare grants under the first round of the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF) 2024.
There are over 130 specified items on the FETF 24 list, including 29 new additions.The scheme provides grants of between £1,000 and £25,000 towards the cost of a long list of equipment or technology to help improve animal health and welfare.
Some of the items listed for pig animal health and welfare grants include:
- Fixed handling system
- Electronic pig weighing and sorting facility/other weighing equipment
- Enclosed piglet creep with heat pad
- Slatted floor inserts and rubber covers for slatted floors
- Automatic curtain system for pig housing
- Hanging enrichment toys
- Individual ad lib farrowing feeder
- Electronic sow feeder
- Robot pen cleaner
- EID equipment
- Feed bin weighing system
- Cameras and pig monitoring systems
- Ammonia, dust, CO2, temperature and humidity sensors
- Insulated farrowing ark
- Automatic vaccination gun
- Evaporative cooling mist line system
- LED lighting
- Loading bay tunnel and portable loading ramp
The application window for health and welfare grants opened in March and closes on May 1.
To can view the FETF guidance, the full list of items and apply HERE
The Rural Payments Agency will pay around 50% or 60% of the expected average cost of the listed items, or of the actual cost if it costs less than the expected average listed.
Applications will be competitive. You can increase your application score by providing evidence that you’ve discussed it with a vet, including through Animal Health and Welfare Reviews.
Slurry and productivity applications closed
The application window for productivity and slurry items under FETF 24 closed on April 17.
Howeverm Defra is planning two more FETF application windows this year. “The item specifications and their costs will be the same in each application window. The budget for each grant is split evenly across the application windows,” Laurren March said.
“If your application falls below the scoring threshold and is unsuccessful, the RPA will reject it. You will be able to apply again. If you’ve accepted a grant funding agreement (GFA) to buy items from a grant, you cannot apply again for the same grant in 2024.”