Farms and ranches face unique types of risks compared to other businesses, as they often involve keeping live animals such as livestock. According to insurance, livestock may include:

• Buffalo
• Cattle
• Bison
• Horses
• Goats
• Sheep
• Alpacas
• Llamas
• Deer
• Elk
• Ostriches
• Emus
• Pigs
• Chickens

Livestock insurance, often known as Livestock and Cattle insurance, generally comes as part of a farm insurance policy.

What Does Livestock Insurance Cover?

Livestock insurance is designed to protect your farm or ranch in case of an unfortunate accident involving your livestock. Farm and ranch animals can be expensive, so anything that takes them away from the farm can cause a huge financial loss.

This insurance may cause loss or death of your livestock due to:

• Weather such as lightning, hail, flooding, wind, etc.
• Accidents such as fire, smoke, explosions, transit and more.
• Natural disasters like volcanoes and sinkholes.
• Theft and vandalism
• Collision in transit

You may also add liability insurance for your livestock in case they cause bodily injury or property damage to someone else. For example, if you offer horse rising lessons and one of your horses kicks a client, this insurance can help cover their medical expenses and protect your farm in case of a lawsuit regarding the accident.

What Does Livestock Insurance Not Cover?

Unfortunately, not everything will be covered under livestock insurance. Certain exotic animals will not be covered under this insurance. Causes of death also matters, as death of livestock due to old age or disease will not be covered under a basic livestock insurance policy.

You may also have to add additional insurance to cover animals who are accidentally shot, attacked by wild animals or drown.

How Much is Livestock Insurance?

The cost of livestock insurance varies widely depending on many factors, including:

• Location
• Size of the farm
• Type of coverage
• Coverage limits

There are generally three ways in which you can purchase livestock insurance: individual coverage, blanket coverage and herd coverage.

Individual coverage covers animals individually, usually expensive animals that you want specifically listed on the policy. This is generally more expensive per-head than other livestock insurance policies.

Blanket coverage bundles coverage for your livestock with coverage for your other property, such as structures and equipment.

Herd coverage is the most common type of livestock insurance and allows you to cover a number of animals separated by species, such as 500 pigs.

Be sure to speak with your insurance agent about the coverage your livestock need.

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