The 2025 Biosecurity Targeted Advisory Service for Animal Health (TASAH) has been launched.
Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon announced €8.2m in funding for the service on Friday which will aim to support farmers to assess and implement biosecurity measures in their farms.
Funded by the Rural Development Programme, the free service will provide an advisory aid in terms of animal health to support farmers in their response to challenges identified on their farms and will be administered by Animal Health Ireland (AHI).
Minister Heydon said that practising good biosecurity on farm is key to protecting and improving animal health, welfare and improving productivity, as well as protecting public health.
“The contribution of this programme and the engagement by both private veterinary practitioners and farmers is a key driver in improving the productivity and ultimately, profitability, of Irish farms through focusing on animal health at farm level,” he said.
“This will allow the completion of 30,000 biosecurity assessments on Irish farms and will facilitate parasitic control programmes on cattle and sheep farms as well as equine holdings”.
Since 2018, AHI has implemented a generic TASAH providing training to private veterinary practitioners (PVPs) to enable them deliver on-farm animal health and welfare advisory services. / Philip Doyle
Farm visits
The Biosecurity TASAH provides for a farm visit and veterinary consultation, free of charge for the farmer, to delivery advise on biosecurity measures and recommendations to control Bovine Viral Diarrhoea, Johne’s Disease and Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis.
In addition, the vet can evaluate biosecurity in dairy farms using Bioscore Dairy, cellcheck and dry cow consults for dairy herds, TB biosecurity, as well as biosecurity in pigs/poultry sector including salmonella control in pig holdings and parasite control strategy for sheep, dairy, beef and suckler farms and equine holdings.
Since 2018, AHI has implemented a generic TASAH providing training to private veterinary practitioners (PVPs) to enable them deliver on-farm animal health and welfare advisory services.
“This Biosecurity TASAH which builds on the success of similar programmes in recent years will continue to reduce our use of anti-microbials across all species on Irish farms and will allow farmers with their PVPs to target those animal health conditions that present the biggest challenge to their farms,” added Heydon.
Farmers can register online from today at the Animal Health Ireland website. The programme will end on 31 October 2025.
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The 2025 Biosecurity Targeted Advisory Service for Animal Health (TASAH) has been launched.
Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon announced €8.2m in funding for the service on Friday which will aim to support farmers to assess and implement biosecurity measures in their farms.
Funded by the Rural Development Programme, the free service will provide an advisory aid in terms of animal health to support farmers in their response to challenges identified on their farms and will be administered by Animal Health Ireland (AHI).
Minister Heydon said that practising good biosecurity on farm is key to protecting and improving animal health, welfare and improving productivity, as well as protecting public health.
“The contribution of this programme and the engagement by both private veterinary practitioners and farmers is a key driver in improving the productivity and ultimately, profitability, of Irish farms through focusing on animal health at farm level,” he said.
“This will allow the completion of 30,000 biosecurity assessments on Irish farms and will facilitate parasitic control programmes on cattle and sheep farms as well as equine holdings”.
Since 2018, AHI has implemented a generic TASAH providing training to private veterinary practitioners (PVPs) to enable them deliver on-farm animal health and welfare advisory services. / Philip Doyle
Farm visits
The Biosecurity TASAH provides for a farm visit and veterinary consultation, free of charge for the farmer, to delivery advise on biosecurity measures and recommendations to control Bovine Viral Diarrhoea, Johne’s Disease and Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis.
In addition, the vet can evaluate biosecurity in dairy farms using Bioscore Dairy, cellcheck and dry cow consults for dairy herds, TB biosecurity, as well as biosecurity in pigs/poultry sector including salmonella control in pig holdings and parasite control strategy for sheep, dairy, beef and suckler farms and equine holdings.
Since 2018, AHI has implemented a generic TASAH providing training to private veterinary practitioners (PVPs) to enable them deliver on-farm animal health and welfare advisory services.
“This Biosecurity TASAH which builds on the success of similar programmes in recent years will continue to reduce our use of anti-microbials across all species on Irish farms and will allow farmers with their PVPs to target those animal health conditions that present the biggest challenge to their farms,” added Heydon.
Farmers can register online from today at the Animal Health Ireland website. The programme will end on 31 October 2025.
Read more
Overhaul of TB measures proposed
TB prevention product scoops top prize at MTU awards
Bird flu confirmed in single sheep in UK
Biosecurity needs to be part of everyday life on poultry farms – vet
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