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Guidance on keeping cattle, bison and buffalo in Great Britain
Anyone with responsibility for cattle or other bovine animals must follow the rules and procedures that apply to all cattle keepers.
A cattle keeper is a person who is responsible for cattle, bison or buffalo on a permanent or temporary basis. In official guidance, the term ‘cattle’ always covers all 3 species.
Some examples of cattle keepers are:
- farmers
- people who run livestock markets and calf assembly centres
- transporters
- those buying and selling cattle
- people who run slaughterhouses and lairages
There are detailed laws setting out the tasks that cattle keepers must carry out, both before they take responsibility for animals and once animals are in their care.
Register to keep cattle
Keeping cattle and representing keepers
Tagging, passports, record keeping and inspections
- Keep a holding register for cattle
- Official cattle breeds and codes
- Get new or replacement official ear tags for cattle
- What to do after a calf is born
- Get a cattle passport
- Cattle passports: what to do if problems arise
- Replace lost, damaged or missing cattle ear tags
- Cattle identification inspections: what to expect
- Identify livestock for export to the EU from 1 January 2021
Reporting and recording events in your herd
- Send cattle reporting information online or by phone
- Report and record cattle movements
- Get and use continuation sheets for cattle passports
- Report and record cattle deaths on the holding
- Send cattle to slaughter
- Report and record the deaths of cattle at slaughter
- Correct a cattle birth, movement or death error
- Cattle without passports
- Register cattle imported or moved into Great Britain
- Report cattle exported or moved out of Great Britain
- Report cattle movements on and off a showground
Published 6 May 2014
Last updated 9 April 2015 + show all updates
Last updated 9 April 2015 + show all updates
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Added paragraph on legislation
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First published.