A written health plan signed by your vet, and a dated annual review, are two of the things assessors ask for first. Here is what each needs, who signs, and where England's funded vet visit fits.
Red Tractor beef, lamb and dairy standards require a written, farm-specific health plan that is signed, dated and reviewed annually by the vet, plus a written annual health and performance review by your nominated vet, who must also visit and see the livestock at least once a year. In England, a funded Animal Health and Welfare Review can stand in for some of the vet requirements in the beef and lamb standard. Keep both documents dated, signed and to hand for the Red Tractor audit.
The beef and lamb standard (version 5.0) has a key standard, B.AH.1, that a written health plan must be established and implemented. The plan must be signed, dated and reviewed annually by the vet, farm specific, and updated when things change. Beyond the plan, B.AH.1.1 requires a written annual livestock health and performance review by your nominated vet or a vet from the nominated practice, and B.AH.3 requires that vet to visit and see the livestock at least annually.
The dairy standard has the same shape under DR.AH.1 and DR.AH.1.1, with extra content for cows. A dairy plan must also cover management of beef cattle and sheep where you keep them.
The beef and lamb standard lets members substitute evidence of a funded England visit for four of those clauses, which I come to below. Standards get revised, so treat this as the position as of October 2026 and check the Red Tractor website for the current version. Our audit checklist shows where the plan sits among the other documents.
The minimum content in the beef and lamb standard is a biosecurity policy, specific disease programmes such as Johne's, BVD and TB, vaccination, parasite control, foot care and lameness management, mastitis, husbandry procedures, identifying treated animals, pain relief procedures and euthanasia. Euthanasia is on the list, so the plan has to cover it.
The dairy list adds metabolic disorders, downer cows, a protocol for shackles or hobbles, and dry cow therapy.
Three further tests are in the standard. The plan must be specific to your farm, not a template printed once. It must name the people responsible for the livestock and other relevant people such as the nutritionist, foot trimmer, shearer and vet. And it must be easily accessible to everyone involved in caring for the stock, which means not in the vet's filing system.
My advice: write the TB and BVD sections from your own testing history, link the vaccination routine to the dates you actually give it, and put the identification method for treated animals in plain words. Our England bovine TB strategy explainer is worth a read before the TB section. The farm vets directory helps if you need a practice to work through it with.
The vet signs and dates it, and reviews it each year. That is the wording of the standard. The farmer's signature is not part of the text I read, though I would sign it too, because it shows the plan has been read by the person who has to follow it.
Writing it is shared. Red Tractor's guidance says the plan can be compiled by the farmer and/or by a number of animal health professionals, and that those who advise or prescribe under it are legally responsible for their own work. Prescribing may not be the direct responsibility of the vet who signs the plan: the vet is confirming that the appropriate content has been completed.
Medicines are the part people mix up. A plan is not a prescription. A routine group treatment listed in the plan, such as a flock vaccination, can be recorded against the group in your medicine records, as the medicine book guide explains, but individual treatments still need their own entries. If you want a layout for that, use our medicine book template.
The beef and lamb review is a review of your own records. The standard lists lameness, mortality records, culling rate and reasons, any other disease noted during the year, medicine administration records, medicine collation, antibiotic collation, a review of highest-priority critically important antibiotic use, prophylactic treatments and cascade use. The nominated vet signs and dates it, and recommends any changes to the plan.
That is a lot of numbers, so have them in one place before the vet arrives. A sheet sorted by product makes the medicine and antibiotic collations a quick count. For withdrawal dates on cascade use, see our guide to medicine withdrawal periods.
Antibiotics have extra rules. Since 1 February 2025 Red Tractor has prohibited antibiotics for prophylaxis except in exceptional circumstances, in line with the revised Veterinary Medicines Regulations. For ruminants, a management review after group prophylaxis must be done within three months of the prescription, not left to the next annual visit. Our Veterinary Medicines Regulations guide covers the legal side.
For many livestock farms in England, yes, at least in part. The Animal Health and Welfare Review is a voluntary, funded visit from a vet of your choice. Defra's July 2026 farming blog confirms the funding is live, with minimum numbers of 11 or more beef cattle, 11 or more dairy cattle, 21 or more sheep or 51 or more pigs.
From 22 January 2026 the review is funded at £447 for dairy cattle, £647 for beef cattle, £574 for sheep and £648 for pigs, whichever species you choose, not per animal. You apply for an Improve Animal Health and Welfare agreement before the vet visit. The GOV.UK guidance says the service ends on 19 June 2027, with claims due by 19 September 2027.
The link to Red Tractor is useful. In the beef and lamb standard, evidence of a Defra annual review visit within the last 12 months can stand in for B.AH.1.1, B.AH.1.2, B.AH.2 and B.AH.3. It does not replace the written health plan itself in B.AH.1. The dairy standard page I read does not list the Pathway as an alternative.
Funding and standards both change. Ask your vet which route suits your farm, and read the current GOV.UK guidance before you book.
Most problems I would expect are about dates, not content. Put the review date and the next due date on the first page. If the plan is signed but the review is 14 months old, that is a likely non-conformance. Book the vet's visit when the last one finishes.
Keep the plan where everyone who works with the animals can reach it, including relief staff. Update it when you change something: a new disease programme, a new supplier, a new building. Date every update. Keep earlier versions too, because they show what the plan said when each treatment was given, and the treatment records themselves must be kept under the medicine record retention rule.
FarmHQ is in pre-launch beta and is built to track the review date and a readiness score against your standard, so a gap shows before the assessor finds it. It does not replace your vet's signature.
Yes. Both the beef and lamb and the dairy standards have a key requirement that a written health plan is established and implemented. It must be farm specific, signed and dated by the vet and reviewed annually by the vet. The plan must also be easily accessible to everyone caring for the stock.
At least once a year. The beef and lamb standard requires the nominated vet or practice to visit the farm at least annually and see the livestock to check for signs of disease, and to carry out a written annual health and performance review. A recent funded England review can stand in for some of these clauses.
The vet. The standard says the plan is signed, dated and reviewed annually by the vet. The farmer or other advisers can compile it, and the vet signing it is confirming the appropriate content has been completed. It is sensible for the farmer to sign too.
Yes. As of October 2026, the Animal Health and Welfare Review is funded at £447 for dairy cattle, £647 for beef cattle, £574 for sheep and £648 for pigs, from 22 January 2026. Visits must be completed by 19 June 2027. Check GOV.UK for the current position.
No. In the beef and lamb standard it can stand in for the annual review, BVD, health records and annual vet visit clauses, not the written health plan itself. Keep a signed, dated plan. The dairy standard page does not list the Pathway as an alternative.