A scheme that will allow farmers and crofters who rear cattle and sheep to claim a £250 payment for veterinary health and welfare interventions will help eradicate some disease and boost efficiency says Scotland’s Chief Vet.

Sheila Voas said: “Healthy animals are more efficient as well as having better welfare and more efficient animals are good for the environment.

“So my personal view is that we should make sure that those animals that we keep are as healthy as they possibly can be and by incentivising eradication of some diseases or improving efficiency, that’s a way to achieve this.

“At the moment, the £250 are part of the national test programme for certain areas only. So one of the things people can opt to do is test their bull’s fertility before they put it out. What you really don’t want is an infertile bull running with your cows for three months before you discover he’s not leaving any calves.

“That’s not good for productivity and profits, but it’s not good for the environment either.

“Another one is liver fluke which slows down growth rates. They impact on welfare but they mean most animals are less productive.

“So there are a number of options, two for cattle, three for sheep and two that can be for cattle or sheep and we’re testing them for now with a view to hopefully doing more as we go forward.

“A healthy animal is a more profitable animal and sometimes it’s spend to save to encourage people to take that first step to see the improvement and then they’ll keep it going for themselves.”

The new payment scheme is one of the first early reforms delivered by the Scottish government to encourage a more sustainable agriculture sector.

A total of seven specific animal health and welfare interventions will be funded under the Scottish government’s Preparing for Sustainable Farming initiative.