Livestock Cover: Beyond Fire Risk

By Michael Dennis, Principal Broker

We’ve covered livestock cover for fire risk in an earlier post (read here), but livestock insurance does extend beyond just fire risk.

The Policy Disclosure Statement (PDS) for each type of livestock cover will detail the events that are insured. So we won’t attempt a comprehensive list here, but here are a couple of examples where we’ve seen claims paid - and which many farmers don’t realise they have cover for:

1.      Lighting or thunderbolt - we’ve seen claims where up to 4 animals were killed in the same strike.

2.      Impact by vehicle - the number of animals lost is usually small, but not always. One client whose property bordered a train line lost 20 animals in a single incident.

For these events, as well as fire losses, you choose the sum insured that you think is appropriate to cover your livestock.

There are also additional benefits within livestock policies that extend cover beyond these events. These are usually capped by a specified dollar amount or a percentage of the sum insured. The reason for these limits is that such events are harder for insurers to underwrite and, if offered without limits, the premiums would be unaffordable.

Common additional benefits include:

• Theft of Livestock

• Livestock death by dogs not belonging to you

• Temporary protection for “the reasonable cost of protecting your livestock from further loss” (example wording from a PDS)

• Veterinary Treatment for “the reasonable cost of veterinary treatment and supplies needed to restore any of the insured Livestock to health following an injury by a listed event, provided it is economically viable to do so” (example wording from a PDS)

The key thing to note with these benefits is that they are additional to the main fire/lightning/impact, and the insurer sets the limits. Your PDS will explain the specific limits for each.

It is important to note that both the ‘temporary protection’ and ‘veterinary treatment’ benefits include a ‘reasonable’ test in their wording. This is exactly where the value of having a broker comes in.

A good broker will advocate for you on what’s considered ‘reasonable’ in the context of your loss, ensuring the insurer has all the information needed to properly understand your situation. Our role is to push for the policy to be applied as it was intended, so that it responds in a way that is genuinely meaningful for you.

This article provides information rather than financial product or other advice. The content of this article, including any information contained in it, has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider the appropriateness of the information, taking these matters into account, before you act on any information. In particular, you should review the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for any product that the information relates to before acquiring the product.

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