Collection

Keeping pigs in England

The rules you must follow to ensure pigs can be traced to prevent and contain disease.

From:
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Rural Payments Agency, Animal and Plant Health Agency, and Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board
Published
31 December 2014
Last updated
4 December 2023 — See all updates

When keeping pigs, you must follow rules to make sure the animals can be traced at all times. This helps to prevent and contain the spread of disease.

These rules apply to anyone with permanent or temporary responsibility for the day-to-day care or control of pigs in England. This includes:

  • farmers
  • slaughterhouse and lairage operators
  • market operators
  • showground operators
  • collection and assembly centre operators
  • hauliers
  • pig or ‘micropig’ hobby keepers

If you’re keeping a pig or ‘micropig’ as a pet, read the guidance on keeping a pet pig or micropig. It explains these rules and other things you need to know about keeping a pig as a pet.

Find out the:

Find out about other rules farmers and land managers must follow.

It’s your responsibility to follow the rules to avoid penalties such as movement restrictions on your herd, reduced subsidy payments, fines or prosecution.

Get a county parish holding (CPH) number

You must first register the land or buildings where you’ll keep pigs with the Rural Payments Agency (RPA). You’ll get a county parish holding (CPH) number which you’ll need for tasks like ordering tags (or tattoo or slap mark equipment) and reporting movements.

Get a temporary land association (TLA) or temporary county parish holding number

You may need to get a temporary land association (TLA) or temporary county parish holding (tCPH) number to link the land or buildings where you’ll keep pigs with your CPH number. You must do this if:   

  • your CPH number is registered to your home address (for example, because you do not own any of the land where you’ll keep pigs, or you keep them as pets)   
  • you use extra land temporarily to keep pigs (for example, you rent an extra field or building for less than a year)

Get a herd mark

You must register with the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) to get a herd mark for pigs. This must be on the ear tags, tattoos or slap marks you use to identify pigs before you move them off your holding.

Keep your registered details up to date

You must contact the RPA and the APHA if your details change after you register with them. Find out when and how to contact them.

Apply for an intensive pig farming permit if necessary

You must apply for an intensive pig farming permit if your holding has capacity for more than any of the following:

  • 750 places for sows
  • 2,000 production pigs over 30 kilograms

Tag, tattoo or slap mark pigs before moving them

Identify pigs with ear tags, tattoos or slap marks before you move them off your holding or premises. You must do this even if the pig has an existing ear tag, tattoo or slap mark from another holding or premises. This is because pigs must be identified with the herd mark for the holding they’re moved from.

Report pig movements

You must report any movements on or off your holding or premises using the electronic animal movement licensing (eAML2) service. You must also follow the rules set out in the pigs movement general licence.

Keep a holding register and take an annual inventory

Find out what you must record in keep a holding register and when to take an annual inventory.

What to do when a pig dies

When sending pigs to slaughter, report the movement off your holding using eAML2. Record the movement in your holding register. The slaughterhouse must report the movement onto their premises and record it in their holding register.

The receiving keeper will report any pigs that die in transit when they confirm the movement on eAML2.

When a pig dies on a holding, you do not need to report this to eAML2. You must follow the rules to safely and legally dispose of the animal.

Published 31 December 2014
Last updated 4 December 2023 + show all updates

  1. Clarified when you need to get a temporary land association or temporary county parish holding number.

  2. Collection updated to include new guides: Moving pigs: what keepers need to know Report pig movements as a market, collection centre, showground or slaughterhouse Pig keepers: how to keep a holding register

  3. First published.

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