Advanced training for farmers in livestock skills is to get a £400,000 national boost under Defra’s £20m Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE).
The news marks a triple livestock success, this autumn, for the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) under RDPE.
Last month, the levy board secured more than £1m of RDPE funding to invest in developing skills in animal health and welfare, with special focus given to the fight to control endemic disease, particularly bovine diarrhoea (BVD) and scab.
This latest RDPE win will help deliver 15,000 hours of training to 1,000 livestock farmers between now and March 2014.
The focus will be on advanced stockmanship and specialist husbandry skills, proven to be key factors in increasing productivity of the core species - cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry.
The programme can also include other farmed species such as goats, rabbits and deer, though only for meat purposes.
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