Insurance for livestock

jj92

I'm going through the the insurance quotes and cutting out anything I think is bad value. Livestock insurance is coming in at around €230 for €100k worth of livestock (maximum stock at any 1 time during the year) for:

Cover - fire, lightning, explosion and aircraft
Cover: Livestock in transit
Cover: Fatal injury by electrocution/flood or collapse of slats in slatted house.

We've always had it but without slats or any chance of fire it looks like I'll be paying 230 for the risk of lightning and electrocution (lights, scrapers in shed).

Does anyone else insure their livestock? Does it seem like it's worth it in this situation?

ganmo

What do you make your (well ment to) money on? Livestock, they are your basic unit of production and from a business sence it'd be foolish not to insure them

rangler1

jj92 wrote: »

I'm going through the the insurance quotes and cutting out anything I think is bad value. Livestock insurance is coming in at around €230 for €100k worth of livestock (maximum stock at any 1 time during the year) for:

Cover - fire, lightning, explosion and aircraft
Cover: Livestock in transit
Cover: Fatal injury by electrocution/flood or collapse of slats in slatted house.

We've always had it but without slats or any chance of fire it looks like I'll be paying 230 for the risk of lightning and electrocution (lights, scrapers in shed).

Does anyone else insure their livestock? Does it seem like it's worth it in this situation?

Does livestock insurance not include third party damage, or is that different

jj92

rangler1 wrote: »

Does livestock insurance not include third party damage, or is that different

I typed in bold what was covered in the policy. Public liability and 3rd party is something else.. I think

Markcheese

The livestock in transit insurance part could be worthwhile, depends on your systems I suppose ...
Seems cheap enough to cover you for 100,000 ... Would you recover from that hit... Not that it's likely..

jj92

ganmo wrote: »

What do you make your (well ment to) money on? Livestock, they are your basic unit of production and from a business sence it'd be foolish not to insure them

I get that it's prudent to insure for risks but IMO it's foolish to insure for non risks i.e. cattle falling through slats when you don't have slats.

I'd just like to get a feel for how likely it would be to say loose several cattle due to lightning strike or bad/loose live electrical wire or something. If I had slats it would be a no brainer IMO.

jj92

Markcheese wrote: »

The livestock in transit insurance part could be worthwhile, depends on your systems I suppose ...
Seems cheap enough to cover you for 100,000 ... Would you recover from that hit... Not that it's likely..

I'd only ever have a up to 20 in a trailer at a time and I wouldn't loose them all at once. I don't value this part of the policy for myself. Someone who transports higher value individual stock may get more value out if it.

The only way I'd like to get this cover is if there is a real chance that electricity or lightning could kill a lot of cattle in the shed in 1 go., but I've no idea if this can happen.

Count Mondego

Are your livestock walking the road covered by public liability or livestock cover? I need to get this sorted myself in the next few weeks. I would never skimp on the insurance to be honest.

jj92

Count Mondego wrote: »

Are your livestock walking the road covered by public liability or livestock cover? I need to get this sorted myself in the next few weeks. I would never skimp on the insurance to be honest.

Not covered at all for you're own loss in that situation I'd say, certainly not in the quote I got. Only covered while in a trailer was that the insurance person said.

Markcheese

Would you get it much cheaper insuring for a lower amount... Or could you get other more appropriate risks added on for no extra cost?? Well worth questioning it though!!

paddysdream

Think livestock cover with each company comes as A B C D and E.

A is basic cover,B is slatted tanks etc falling in,C is whilst straying from land(ie your stock are covered as well as cover for the damage they do to others property;think this bit is where public liability comes in)D is in transit ie in trailer to factory etc.E is dogs worrying sheep.

Have A C and D here (no slatted tanks and E is too expensive to be worthwhile)

The above is as I understand it anyways.
Also have the dogs insured here as to lose one would be awkward as well as expensive to replace.
Think most policies have a limit on the per animal payout;not really important unless you have a very expensive bull etc.
Think you are supposed to insure to the maximum number of animals you would have during the year.To be honest its not a lot really in the big scheme of things ie 300 euro is only 3 lambs (well at July prices maybe!!)

jj92

Markcheese wrote: »

Would you get it much cheaper insuring for a lower amount... Or could you get other more appropriate risks added on for no extra cost?? Well worth questioning it though!!

You sure could, then you're under-insured! No way they'll pay out on full loss if you've underestimated the highest value of the stock over the 12 months. I'll chat to the insurance companies tomorrow about the risks and see if they can make them more appropriate.

Still, has anyone any idea if lightning is a genuine hazard to stock while indoors? And could an electrical installation kill a lot of animals at once, and if so do we have examples of this happening?

J.O. Farmer

jj92 wrote: »

You sure could, then you're under-insured! No way they'll pay out on full loss if you've underestimated the highest value of the stock over the 12 months. I'll chat to the insurance companies tomorrow about the risks and see if they can make them more appropriate.

Still, has anyone any idea if lightning is a genuine hazard to stock while indoors? And could an electrical installation kill a lot of animals at once, and if so do we have examples of this happening?

Livestock being hit by lightning and killing a lot of them is unlikely I would think.
Electrocution is probably a low risk of occurring but if it does there's a high chance of several being killed. I can't cite specific examples but I have heard of several cattle being killed in one place where an electrical fault occurred. Normally in milking parlours where it tends to be wet too.
I seem to remember a case of lightning hitting a power line and several cattle being electrocuted though in the field.