Calf Housing for Health and Welfare grant

Grants of up to £500,0000 are available to farmers in England to support investment in upgraded calf housing.

The money is being made available through the new Animal Health and Welfare Infrastructure Grant, with the goal being to provide calf housing that offers a good ambient environment and facilitates social contact between animals.

Although the scheme will initially focus on co-funding new and upgraded calf housing, in time it will be extended to cover buildings for adult cattle, pigs and poultry.

The minimum grant on offer is £15,000 and the maximum is £500,000, with the money covering up to 40% of the eligible costs of a project.

The grant can pay for capital costs to build new, or upgrade existing, calf housing buildings such as:

• A-frame buildings with four walls
• mono-pitch buildings with three walls and one open side
• permanent open-sided structures with igloos or hutches
• other types of building that do not fit the above categories

Buildings must be a permanent non-movable building, securely attached to a foundation, intended for use for a minimum of 5 years and which meet the legal requirements for calf housing.

As part of a project, funding is also on offer for rooftop solar PV panels although Defra will only fund up to 25% of the purchase and installation costs of these.

The application process has three stages.

The first stage is using an online checker to check a project’s eligibility and how well it fits the funding priorities. The online checker closes on 30 November 2023.

The second stage involves completing an Ambient Environment Assessment form, so Defra can check the building will provide a suitable environment for the calves.

If these details are satisfactory, farmers will be invited to make a full application, where they will need to supply three quotes for any items valued at more than £5,000 and a letter of confirmation showing that advice has been sought from a vet.

We expect the scheme to be popular and given total funding pot on offer is fairly limited at £10m, it will be important for applicants to focus on the funding priorities when putting together a submission.

For more details of the scheme contact Alice Johnson.

[This blog post was updated on 7 September 2023 to reflect the opening of the application window.]