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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.

Published 6 May 2014
Last updated 9 April 2015 — see all updates

• From: British Cattle Movement Service

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.

What to do before you can keep cattle

To keep cattle, you must:

• register the place where you will keep them to get a County Parish Holding (CPH) number for it
• register as a keeper with your local Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) office which will issue you with a herd mark
• register with the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) which maintains the Cattle Tracing System (CTS) database

What you must do when you keep cattle

Once you are responsible for animals, you must follow the correct procedures for:

• identifying animals and keeping records
• reporting certain events (births, movements, deaths, and lost and stolen animals) to BCMS

Read old guidance on the National Archives website

Relevant regulations

In England, the regulations on cattle identification are the Cattle Identification Regulations 2007, as amended by the Animal Health By-products (Enforcement) England Regulation (SI 2013/295) and the Cattle Identification (amendment) Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/295).

There are separate regulations for Scotland and Wales.

Legislation

The requirements on cattle identification, registration and tracing are governed by several pieces of EU legislation.

Regulation made by the European Parliament and Council

Regulation (EC) No 1760/00 establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals and regarding the labelling of beef and beef products and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97.

Regulation made by the European Commission giving detailed rules

Regulation (EC) No 911/2004 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1760/00 as regards eartags, holding registers and passports in the framework of the system for the identification and registration of bovine animals.

Regulation (EC) No 1082/2003 as amended by Regulation (EC) 1034/2010 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1760/00 as regards the minimum level of controls to be carried out in the framework of the system for the identification and registration of bovine animals. This Regulation specifies the need for the competent authority to carry out on the spot inspections of GB cattle holdings. This has been amended by Regulation (EC) No 1034/2010 which has set the level at 3% of holdings to be inspected.

Regulation (EC) No 494/98 as amended by Regulation (EC) No1053/2010 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation 9EC) No 1760/00 as regards the application of minimum administrative sanctions in the framework of the system for the identification and registration of bovine animals. This Regulation sets down the sanctions to be applied to holdings not complying with the requirements of Regulation (EC) No 1760/00, which includes restrictions on movements of cattle from the holding.

Commission Regulation (EC) No 644/2005 laying down rules for a special identification system for bovine animals recognised by the competent authority as being kept for cultural and historical purposes on premises approved for that purpose by the competent authority.

Commission Regulation (EC) No 509/1999 concerning an extension of the maximum period laid down for the application of ear-tags to bison.

Keeping cattle and representing keepers

1. Register a holding so that you can keep cattle
   • 6 May 2014
   • Guidance
2. Get a herd mark for cattle
   • 6 May 2014
   • Guidance
3. Register with the British Cattle Movement Service
   • 6 May 2014
   • Guidance
4. Get and use bar code labels for your holding
   • 6 May 2014
   • Guidance
5. Update your holding details
   • 6 May 2014
   • Guidance
6. Register with CTS Online to represent cattle keepers as an agent
   • 15 January 2019
   • Guidance

Tagging, passports, record keeping and inspections

1. Keep a holding register for cattle
   • 5 May 2017
   • Guidance
2. Official cattle breeds and codes
   • 4 July 2018
   • Guidance
3. Get new or replacement official ear tags for cattle
   • 18 March 2019
   • Guidance
4. What to do after a calf is born
   • 6 May 2014
   • Guidance
5. Get a cattle passport
   • 6 May 2014
   • Guidance
6. Cattle passports: what to do if problems arise
   • 8 August 2018
   • Guidance
7. Replace lost, damaged or missing cattle ear tags
   • 6 May 2014
   • Guidance
8. Cattle identification inspections: what to expect
   • 6 May 2014
   • Guidance

Reporting and recording events in your herd

1. Send cattle reporting information online or by phone
   • 15 January 2019
   • Guidance
2. Report and record cattle movements
   • 6 May 2014
   • Guidance
3. Get and use continuation sheets for cattle passports
   • 6 May 2014
   • Guidance
4. Report and record cattle deaths on the holding
   • 2 February 2016
   • Guidance
5. Send cattle to slaughter
   • 6 May 2014
   • Guidance
6. Report and record the deaths of cattle at slaughter
   • 6 May 2014
   • Guidance
7. Correct a cattle birth, movement or death error
   • 6 May 2014
   • Guidance
8. Cattle without passports
   • 6 May 2014
   • Guidance
9. Register cattle imported or moved into Great Britain
   • 5 February 2019
   • Guidance
10. Report cattle exported or moved out of Great Britain
    • 6 May 2014
    • Guidance
11. Report cattle movements on and off a showground
    • 6 May 2014
    • Guidance

Published 6 May 2014
Last updated 9 April 2015 + show all updates

1. 9 April 2015 Added paragraph on legislation
2. 6 May 2014 First published.