Welcome to Yorkshire and Humberside Health (YHH)

The Yorkshire and Humberside Health (YHH) initiative aims to enhance the health status of the pig herd in Yorkshire and the Humber by supporting activity and coordination between farmers, veterinarians and the allied industry in order to identify and overcome the key disease challenges in the region. This initiative is being funded by BPEX and the Rural Development Programme for England, which is jointly funded by Defra and the European Union, and is managed by Yorkshire Forward.

Working together for improved competitiveness, health and welfare

There are two phases to the project - Planning (2009) and Action (2010 onwards). For the planning phase, the following will be running simultaneously across the region and, as farmers, you can get involved with any or all of these:

• Veterinary survey of disease status (to take part please sign the declaration form here and provide it to your vet at your next quarterly visit)

• Development of a map of pig units on the internet showing where pigs are and the disease status of herds in the vicinity (please click here to register for YHH services)

• Development of a swine dysentery producer charter that allows changes in disease status to be communicated to other members of the charter (please click here to join the charter)

• Development of decision tools such as cost benefit models and ‘What-If?’ calculators to explore the value of improvements (please click here to view decision tools)

• Development of clusters that might want to work together on a health improvement strategy (please click here for information on meetings near you)

YHH will provide all the support you need, for free. We help YOU decide the best course of action to minimise the costs of chronic disease on your farms. To achieve this, YHH has access to some of the industry’s leading experts who will advise on diagnostics and health improvement methods. In addition, a steering group will ensure best use of resources and BPEX will coordinate all producer clusters to maximise effectiveness.

YHH will not be telling you how to run your pig unit...but we do ask you to join your local YHH Health District and form Producer Clusters (click here for information on cluster meetings near you). 

It’s YOUR initiative, YOUR pigs, YOUR future.
 
For help, support and information please contact the YHH team.    

CALLING ALL YORKSHIRE AND HUMBERSIDE PRODUCERS

Could anyone interested in having some unit faecal or blood samples taken, free of charge, to assist with the YHH programme please contact Helen Clarke (BPEX). The faecal samples are taken on unit, and roughly take 45 minutes to collect. These will be tested for swine dysentery and will help the YHH programme greatly in establishing the best diagnostic procedures currently available.  Blood samples are taken at the abattoir and are tested for EP and PRRS. All results will be confidential between you and your vet. Please email helen.clarke@bpex.org.uk or call 07973701369 for more information.

Information for veterinary surgeons

If your veterinary practice has been invited to take part in our Vet Survey of producers in the Yorkshire and Humber region please click here to login and complete the survey. This survey is for completion by veterinary surgeons and not by producers.