5 Questions to Ask When Buying Livestock Insurance in the UK
If you are a farmer or intend to go into animal farming, you may need to ask some important questions before buying livestock insurance. This will help you know what coverage you’d be getting and for how much.
If you are into livestock farming and you are considering buying insurance for your cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, horses and donkeys, below are the questions you need to ask your agent.
1. Do you have coverage for my farm animals if they get killed on my own property?
While many insurers will compensate you for an animal’s death if it wanders onto someone else’s property, not all plans cover deaths that occur on your own property. Fortunately, you can expand your coverage with an adequate livestock Insurance policy to include any tragic injuries that occur on your property.
2. Do you have sheep-worrying insurance?
It’s a sad fact that sheep worrying is on the rise (more than 15,000 sheep and unborn lambs were killed by dogs in 2016 according to Sheepwatch UK) (more than 15,000 sheep and unborn lambs were killed by dogs in 2016 according to Sheepwatch UK). With the proper coverage in place, you avoid the added financial burden of losing cattle in this manner, as well as the distressing experience of losing livestock in this manner.
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3. Is it necessary to have public liability insurance?
If you have farm animals (especially larger ones like cows and horses), the answer to whether you should have a public liability insurance policy or not is almost always yes. Whatever the circumstances, if any of your cattle escaped in England and Wales, you would be liable for the damage they caused.
We’ve heard of cases where a farmer’s horses became startled and bolted onto a public road, striking a car and injuring the driver severely. Fortunately, they had liability insurance, so they didn’t have to pay the claim’s £100,000 cost.
4. Have you updated your insurance policy to reflect your current livestock numbers?
Don’t forget to notify your insurer if your herds have grown in the last year so that your animals aren’t underinsured. Similarly, if you notify your insurance company in the UK that herd numbers have decreased, it may have a positive influence on your premiums.
5. Are there any diseases in particular that you want to be protected against?
Fortunately, foot and mouth disease is a thing of the past, and anthrax outbreaks are becoming less and less prevalent, but an illness among your livestock might be disastrous. Many insurance policies cover a variety of ailments; simply ask your insurer what is covered by default. You might also want to think about livestock infertility insurance.
When your cattle are your livelihood, you understand the importance of having them insured. Even if you simply have a few farm animals, you need to make sure you have adequate liability insurance in case they escape. We understand the importance of protecting your farm animals because of the number of claims we see each year in the UK.
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