Calf housing grant now available

Cattle farmers can apply for a Calf Housing for Health and Welfare grant to build new, upgrade, or replace existing calf housing buildings to deliver health and welfare benefits for your calves.

Grant-funded calf housing must provide a good ambient environment and facilitate social contact through pair or group housing. This means that the environment will have good air quality, temperature and be in a suitable location.

The grants will be delivered by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) on behalf of Defra. The government said a successful project will improve calf health, enhance environmental sustainability and introduce innovation.

To apply you must be an active cattle farmer in England with 11 or more cattle. Any buildings you build or upgrade with money from the grant must be located in England. You must either own the land you’re building on or have a tenancy agreement for the land until five years after the project is complete.

The application is a three-step process and is competitive so will be marked against other applications. The minimum you can apply for is £15,000 and the maximum is £500,000 per applicant business.

Before applying, you need to discuss your project with a vet and include a letter of confirmation with your full application. Full information is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/calf-housing-for-health-and-welfare-2023.