A Veterinary Approach to Sustainable Food and Farming - Case Study from Janet Horsfield

Janet Horsfield, a sheep and cattle veterinary surgeon in North West England, is dedicated to supporting her clients through leading flock and calf health clubs and farmers’ discussion groups. Earlier this year, Janet completed our online course,”A Veterinary Approach to Sustainable Food and Farming”, (delivered in partnership with Vet Sustain), to further her knowledge and help farmers achieve their sustainability goals. This article outlines her final project, focused on integrating sustainability into farm veterinary practice.

How to support a farm animal client transition to more sustainable methods of farming?

Project Background

Hare Appletree Farm is a 270 acre upland dairy and sheep farm situated in Forest of Bowland AONB in North West England, circa 200m above sea level with fell grazing rights up to 415m. The farm milks approximately 100 British Friesian x Holstein cows, alongside 400 horned sheep which graze marginal land and fell. 

The farmer and vet have worked together for over 10 years, initially working on a subsidised Health and Welfare Plan to investigate lameness control, infectious disease and biosecurity. A shared interest in sustainability led vet and farmer to attend a Soil Health workshop together, sparking further exploration into livestock management, rotational grazing, and other regenerative practices.

During the transitional period, the farm moved to an Arla C.A.R.E milk contract and received a premium payment for:

• Higher welfare

• Ecosystem initiatives

• Renewable energy use

• Milk production from grazing rather than concentrates

• Community engagement

As part of their transition to more sustainable and regenerative farming practices, the farm has made a range of environmental improvements, such as

• Planting several kilometres of hedges & trees

• Pine woodland harvested and replaced with diverse native species

• Peatland restoration

• Rotational grazing and use of herbal leys

• Reducing fertiliser application through soil testing and agronomist advice

• Improved flood defence - both on farm and downstream 

Veterinary Involvement

Janet began by reviewing the animal health plan, focusing on improving efficiency and reducing reliance on chemical inputs (medicines and fertilisers) whilst maintaining high standards of animal health and welfare (AHW). 

Dairy Cattle

1. Lameness

A lameness control plan was implemented, focusing on routine foot inspections and trimming training, an automatic footbath, and a shift to Friesian genetics for more robust cows. Additionally, improvements were made to cubicle design and a veterinary technician conducted quarterly mobility scoring. The result was a complete elimination of macrolide antibiotic use in one year - which reduced the annual vet spend despite introducing monthly routine vet visits. Lameness incidence and culls for chronic lameness are now extremely low

2. Udder Health

Mastitis milk sampling and milk recording was introduced to allow targeted treatment and selective dry cow therapy, with prudent use of antibiotics and culling of chronic cows. Antibiotic use briefly increased as a result but has since reduced and continues to be monitored. The majority of mastitis cases are now treated solely with anti-inflammatories.

3. Johne’s Disease

Annual whole herd milk screening was initiated and in 2022 was increased to quarterly via Herdwise. A comprehensive Johne’s control plan has significantly reduced levels by judicious culling, breeding and calving management. At the last recording there were no cows testing positive in the herd. 

4. Other Infections Diseases

Bulk milk BVD, Leptospirosis and IBR testing are carried out quarterly. Currently the herd is negative for all three (very unusual in the area). Any aborting dams are tested for Neospora with no positive cases to date.

5. Calf Health

To combat scour and pneumonia, the farmer and veterinarian addressed risk factors like overstocking and poor building conditions, which lead to drainage improvements within the calf building, and enhanced bowl and bucket hygiene. The farm also joined the practice’s calf health club monitoring scheme. Pre-weaned calves are weighed monthly and passive transfer of antibodies is measured by veterinary technicians.

Monitoring and benchmarking allows the farmer to engage in making improvements to animal health and welfare, resulting in the farm becoming one of the highest performing herds within the practice. Veterinary technicians carry out all disbudding and castrating using local anaesthetic and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories are used). 

Sheep

Adult ewes, replacements and fat lambs are vaccinated to prevent Clostridial and Pasteurellosis losses. Scald is the main cause of lameness which is now managed using copper sprays where possible to avoid antibiotic use. Amoxycillin (CAT D – Prudence) is used when antibiotics are required and sheep are separated until recovered to reduce spread. 

Integrated parasite management

Historically there was an over reliance on long-acting Avermectin products in both cattle and sheep. The team utilised the Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (SCOPS) & COWS (Control of Worms Sustainably) principles to formulate an updated, more moderate endoparasite strategy. 

For effective endoparasite control in sheep, the team's approach was to perform faecal egg counts (FEC) on ewes pre-lambing, worming only thin or multiple-lamb ewes. 

They also monitored lamb FEC from six weeks old (when gathered) and implemented pasture management strategies such as rotating pastures with cattle, maintaining longer swards, and grazing youngstock on herbal leys or near willow trees. 

Due to abundant snail habitat, fluke control measures were necessary, requiring adult ewes to be dosed with triclabendazole (TBZ) in October, followed by coproantigen test and treatment if needed. The farmer also utilised the NADIS forecast to reduce infection risk through strategic grazing. 

With regards to cattle, first grazers are now vaccinated against lungworm and FEC are carried out (the practice regularly reviews this policy due to accuracy concerns). Moving forwards, the team may introduce a single dose of Avermectin at housing to prevent Type II Ostertagiasis if necessary (depending on weather and NADIS forecasts). Fluke control in heifers relies on TBZ oral drench after housing or closantel pour on 8 weeks after housing depending on perceived risk from pasture. Fluke challenge is monitored by quarterly bulk milk antibody testing of milking cows. 

To manage ectoparasites, sheep are dipped in September with an organophosphates dip, as the common grazing fell carries a high tick and scab risk. Swinging brushes are available for milking cows to improve welfare and reduce external parasites. 

Fertility and Breeding

Since 2015, monthly fertility visits have reduced the calving index from over 400 to 380 days. Initially, Friesian sexed semen was used on all first services, with bulls selected for longevity, fertility, yield, and milk constituents. This led to a surplus of heifers, so maiden heifers are now inseminated with Angus. To improve herd phenotype, only the best-performing milking heifers and older cows are now bred with sexed semen from Friesian or robust Holstein bulls; the rest are served to beef. This has reduced stocking density in youngstock buildings as beef-cross calves are sold at 2 months.

Nutrition and Grazing

Milk yield rose from 17L/day (2015) to 27L/day, thanks to regular vet/nutritionist discussions on rumen health, cow performance, forage yield, and sustainable soya. Cow metabolic health improved with increased dry matter intake from rumen-friendly, high-forage rations; better feed trough access and reduced disease/lameness. Joining a grazing group in 2024 aided the transition to rotational grazing, targeting longer paddock sward length and 30-day rest periods; herbal leys now cover almost half the grazing land.  Sheep numbers were reduced to 400 breeding ewes to prevent over-grazing, and there are plans to install naturally fed water tanks with solar pumps to simplify water supply to paddocks.

The Veterinary Role in Supporting Change

Veterinarians and technicians can raise awareness and provide technical knowledge to support farmers in their ethical and economical motivation to ‘farm better’. Maintaining open communication through on-farm discussions, meetings, knowledge transfer, and funding application assistance is essential for informed decision-making. Veterinary technician support was utilised by the case farmer where time or skill gaps were identified, such as calf performance monitoring, FEC etc. 

The farmer, Andrew Metcalfe, has kindly answered some questions relating to the project:

Q: During the transition, what role did your vet have in supporting you through it?

We looked at animal health and robustness in both sheep and cattle, the cows are our main business so it was important that we got things right. We looked at best practice for grazing (considering we are an upland farm).... We talked about reducing antibiotic use and disease control and how a more sustainable way of farming would impact the cattle.

Q: Where else do you think a vet may be able to support a more sustainable method of farming?

Looking at animal robustness and the conditions in which you are farming…….. splitting your fields up with rotational grazing reduces the number of worms on the paddocks……. A rotation system is beneficial for soil and animal health, having a vet explain that to farmers is another reason why farmers should be doing it

Q: How do you think a vet could engage with less aware farmers to encourage more sustainable practices

Farming is a business, if vets can explain the financial aspects and increased yields. (Sustainable farming) is more efficient - less disease therefore less drugs is a big saving whilst also being good for the environment. Increasing yields is a great way to engage farmers - farmers like the money in their pocket!

Whole Team Collaboration

Collaborating with experts in this instance has led to a ‘whole team’ approach, which helped all stakeholders learn and gain confidence together. The willingness to be open to advice has been key to progression. The majority of infrastructure changes on this farm have been funded with help from local and government initiatives. The Farming Business Advisory Service (FBAS) was one such initiative that assisted the farmer in identifying all the available opportunities - this scheme proved so useful the practice held a client open evening to promote it along with Animal Health and Welfare Review funding. Wyre Rivers Trust, Forest of Bowland and the farm’s agronomist have also proved excellent sources of grassland, water management and soil health knowledge.

Summary

This case study forms part of the assessment criteria on the VetSalus and Vet Sustain course “A Veterinary Approach to Sustainable Food and Farming”. Our November 2025 cohort is open for registration now and will close on 6th November. To find out more and to secure your place in our next cohort, please visit our dedicated learning platform: https://learn.vetsalus.com/pages/a-veterinary-approach-to-sustainable-food-and-farming.