The Formentera Council struck a deal today with the island's Associació de Ramaders (Association of Stockbreeders) that is aimed at promoting animal hygiene and improving productive systems. CiF president Jaume Ferrer sat down with Associació chair Alfonso Ferrer to sign the compact, which unlocks €37,000 in funding.

Under the terms of the deal, members of the league of Formentera farmers pledge to keep their livestock in sanitary conditions, up to date on vaccines, yearly parasite treatments and the health regime of the CiF's department of agriculture, livestock, fishing and hunting.

The Associació, in turn, promises to give the Council support in production, animal health and other “welfare- or identification-related actions”for the animals on farms integrated into the island's so-called Agrupació de Defensa Sanitària. Another pledge: to conduct the actions laid out annually in the so-called “common health programme”.

The league of livestock workers also agrees to continue educating member farmers on the following issues:

-Disinfecting and pest control.
-External parasite prevention for sheep, goat and pigs and internal treatment for dogs on farms.
-Full reporting in Associació's “registry of medical treatments” of medicines given to animals
-For medicines prescribed by a vet, respecting the ADS veterinary service-established treatment plan.
-Supplying complete food-chain information prior to slaughter
-Fitting abattoir-bound lambs and kids with tags containing individual farm registry codes. Tags will be supplied by the CiF Office of Agriculture, Livestock, Fishing and Hunting.
-Participate in the mandatory livestock census between January 1 and February 28.