Record and report cattle that are slaughtered at a slaughterhouse
Slaughterhouse operators must record the movement of any cattle to the slaughterhouse, report their death and return the cattle passport.
Applies to England and Wales
If you run a slaughterhouse, you must record and report the movement of cattle to your slaughterhouse, and the slaughter.
You need to do this within different deadlines.
When the animals arrive at your slaughterhouse, you must:
- record the movement in your holding register within 36 hours
- record and report the movement to the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) within 3 days
After the animals are slaughtered, within 7 days you must:
- report the deaths to BCMS
- return the passports to BCMS
- update your holding register with the dates of the deaths
Day 1 is the day after the animal is slaughtered.
The cattle keeper is responsible for sending the necessary paperwork with the cattle. This is for you to report the cattle movement and slaughter.
You must carry out all of these actions so that cattle can be traced. This is a legal requirement to prevent and contain the outbreak of disease.
If you fail to do this, you could be prosecuted.
Report deaths online
Report the death of a registered animal using Cattle Tracing System (CTS) Online. If you use your own slaughterhouse software you can use this to send the data to BCMS instead.
To report multiple deaths, you can upload a file of movements and deaths to CTS Online. If you’re not sure how to do this, contact BCMS.
British Cattle Movement Service
Email: bcmsenquiries@rpa.gov.uk
Telephone (England): 0345 050 1234
Telephone (Wales): 0345 050 3456
Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm
Find out about call charges
Report deaths by telephone
If the animals have UK official ear tags, you can report their deaths on the CTS self-service telephone line.
CTS self-service telephone line
Telephone (English language): 0345 011 1212
Telephone (Welsh language): 0345 011 1213
24 hours a day, 7 days
Find out about call charges
Report deaths by post
Fill in the details of death on the animal’s passport and send it to BCMS. It must arrive within 7 days of its death.
British Cattle Movement Service
Curwen Road
Workington
Cumbria
CA14 2DD
Record the details of death
For single page passports - if you have reported the death online or by phone on the passport, you do not need to fill in the details of the death. Tick the box to say you’ve reported the death.
For cheque book-style passports - complete the details of the death on the passport.
For blue and green passports or certificates of registration - stamp the date and place of slaughter on the passport.
You must also record the date of death in your holding register within 7 days.
Documents you must return to BCMS
Documents must arrive within 7 days of the slaughter.
You must send:
- the animals’ passports or certificates of registration, or both, if applicable
- a copy of the kill sheet for each day
BCMS provides pre-paid envelopes to return passports and copies of kill sheets. Contact BCMS if you need more envelopes or sheets.
You can also be approved to use a shredding service to destroy cattle passports. Contact BCMS to find out how to get approved. You’ll still have to follow the rules to report and record the deaths.
British Cattle Movement Service
Curwen Road
Workington
Cumbria
CA14 2DD
Email:bcmsenquiries@rpa.gov.uk
Telephone (England): 0345 050 1234
Telephone (Wales): 0345 050 3456
Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm
Find out about call charges
Identification inspections
The Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) official veterinarian (OV) will inspect 10% of cattle going through slaughterhouses. This is to make sure you’re checking the identification of the animals correctly. The selection is random.
To do this, the FSA will need the animals’ passports.
If there are problems with an animal’s identification or passport, the OV will investigate. The animal cannot be slaughtered until the problem has been resolved.
If you’ve made a mistake when reporting a death
Report any errors to BCMS in writing as soon as you become aware of the problem.
You can either:
- send a message in your CTS Online account
- email or send a letter to BCMS
Explain the problem and include:
- your county parish holding (CPH) number
- the official ear tag numbers
British Cattle Movement Service
Curwen Road
Derwent Howe
Workington
Cumbria
CA14 2DD
Email: bcmsenquiries@rpa.gov.uk
Last updated 8 November 2022 + show all updates
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Content has been reviewed for accuracy and reformatted. New information includes the legal requirement to follow these rules, how to correct errors, and the cattle keeper’s responsibility to send the correct paperwork to the slaughterhouse.
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This guidance has been updated to show it no longer applies to Scotland.
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First published.