Farm and Agricultural Insurance Claims
Farm claims are the most complicated domestic-scale claims there are. A single storm can damage buildings, machinery, stock, feed and fencing at once, and each element is evidenced and valued in a different way.
Buildings and structures
Slatted sheds, hay and straw barns, milking parlours, cubicle houses, machinery sheds, grain stores and the farmhouse itself. Agricultural roofing carries asbestos in older sheds, which changes both the method and the cost of removal, and a settlement that ignores licensed disposal is a settlement that will not cover the job.
Livestock
Livestock losses need documenting to a standard insurers will accept, and the window for doing it is short. Herd numbers, tag records, veterinary certification, ICBF and Department records, and disposal dockets all matter. Where animals die from smoke inhalation, electrocution, collapsed structures or contaminated feed rather than obvious injury, the causal link has to be established by a vet — and it has to be done at the time, not reconstructed later.
Machinery, feed and consequential loss
Tractors and implements, milking and cooling plant, generators, and stored feed and fodder. Beyond the direct loss there is nearly always consequential cost: replacement feed bought in at short notice, animals housed or grazed elsewhere during repair, hired plant, milk discarded after a power failure, and lost production. These are real losses and they are the ones most often absent from an insurer’s first figure.
Forestry and land
Windblow in commercial forestry, damage to shelterbelts, fencing and gates across a holding, and contamination from oil or slurry escape. Oil spill remediation in particular runs to figures that surprise people, and it frequently involves the local authority as well as your insurer.
Why use an assessor on a farm claim
Because the claim is wide, the evidence is perishable, and you have animals to look after while it is running. We assemble the whole thing — buildings, stock, machinery, feed, consequential loss — as one costed schedule, deal with the loss adjuster and negotiate the settlement. First consultation free.
Common questions
Are livestock losses actually covered?
It depends on the peril and on your policy, but losses arising from fire, lightning, electrocution, storm damage and structural collapse are commonly covered. Contemporaneous veterinary evidence is usually the deciding factor.
My shed roof is asbestos cement. Does that affect the claim?
Yes. Removal and disposal must be carried out under licence, which materially increases the cost, and that cost should be reflected in the settlement rather than absorbed by you.
Can I claim for feed I had to buy in?
Where your own fodder was destroyed by an insured event, the cost of replacing it is generally claimable. Keep the invoices.
Talk to us before you agree a figure
The first consultation is free and there is no obligation. We will tell you honestly whether your claim needs an assessor.
Call 085 268 7871