Animal Plant Health Agency
You must report and record all movements of sheep and goats on or off your holding.
Your holding is any place you keep the animals, for example:
- a farm
- market
- home or a garden where you might keep a pet animal
Following these rules means that animals can be traced at all times to help prevent and contain disease.
Its your responsibility to follow the rules to avoid penalties such as a fine or prosecution.
What a movement is
A movement happens any time animals are moved on or moved off your holding. It can include moving them:
- to and from a different holding, for example a farm
- to your holding when you buy or import animals from another country in the UK or from abroad
- from your holding when you sell or export animals abroad, including through an assembly centre
- to a slaughterhouse
- to and from a showground, market or collection centre
You do not have to report a movement if its to or from:
- a vet, for emergency treatment
- land with the same county parish holding (CPH) number
- common land bordering your holding that you can use for grazing, if its registered with RPA as linked to your holding
- land bordering your holding with a different CPH number, which the animals move between frequently, on foot and without contact with other livestock - youll need a standing entry in your holding register so that the arrangement is clear to a field officer on a site visit
Example
If there is a gate open to a neighbouring field with a different CPH number, which the owner lets you use to graze your animals on a daily basis - you only need to update your holding register with a record of the arrangement.
Who needs to report movements
Anyone who is responsible for keeping sheep and goats must report movements on and off their holding.
This can include:
- farmers, including people who own sheep or goats as pets or for breeding purposes
- market or showground operators
- collection or assembly centre operators
- someone who is paid to keep sheep or goats on their land
- lairages (where it has a CPH number different from the animals location - for example a slaughterhouses nearby field lairage)
- slaughterhouse operators
You do not have to report movements if youre a:
- vet
- haulier or transporter
If youre a haulier or transporter, you must keep your own records to comply with animal transport welfare law. You can keep a copy of the LIS-1 movement document that comes with the animals - youll need to pass on any remaining copies to the destination keeper.
Before you move sheep and goats
There are steps you must follow before you move sheep or goats on to or off your holding.
Register as a keeper
If this is the first time youll keep sheep or goats, even as pets, you must register as a keeper with:
- Rural Payments Agency (RPA) - youll get a CPH number
- Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) - youll get a herd or flock mark to use when you order ear tags or other tags (such as pastern bands) to identify your animals
Keep a holding register
Youll need to keep a holding register to record the animals:
- official identification numbers
- movements
- deaths
You must update your holding register within 36 hours each time you move animals on to or off your holding.
Read the general licence for moving sheep and goats
You should be aware of the general licence for moving sheep and goats in England. You need to comply with the conditions in the licence to have the right to move your animals.
What you need to report
You need to report the:
- address the animals are sent to or from
- details of the haulier moving the animals (which they might complete on the LIS-1 movement document)
- total number of animals moved
You also need to include the animals official identification numbers unless:
- youre moving sheep to a destination that has been approved to scan and record animals with electronic identification (EID) tags and give these back to you - these are known as central point recording centres (CPRCs) and include most markets
- youre moving animals to a holding within your business where youre still the keeper in day-to-day care and control of them - for example, if youre moving animals between holdings you own or rent, that have different CPH numbers
- the animals are tagged with a slaughter tag
When you move sheep and goats
You need to:
- make sure the sheep are correctly tagged
- make sure that your goats are correctly tagged
- report the movement to the Livestock Information Service (LIS)
You also need to record the movement in your holding register.
When to follow the standstill rule
The standstill rule helps reduce the spread of infectious diseases. It applies to the movement of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs.
If you move cattle, sheep, or goats on to your land from a different holding, for 6 days after you must not move off your holding any:
- cattle
- sheep
- goats
- pigs
If you move pigs on to your land from a different holding, you must not move any:
- cattle, sheep or goats off your holding for 6 days
- pigs off your holding for 20 days
Day 1 is the day after the animals arrival.
Example
If a sheep arrives on a Monday, day 1 is Tuesday and day 6 is Sunday. You can move animals of all species off your holding on day 7 - the following Monday.
You do not have to follow the standstill rule if youre moving animals directly to slaughter, including to a red livestock market (slaughter-only market).
There are some other exemptions - read the guidance on when you might be exempt from following standstill rules.
If you need help or advice, contact the Defra Rural Services helpline and choose the APHA option.
Animal and Plant Health Agency
Email: customer.registration@apha.gov.uk
Telephone (Defra rural services helpline): 03000 200 301
Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm
Find out about call charges
When you import or export sheep or goats
The movement of sheep or goats into or out of England must be reported.
You must also record the movements in your holding register.
Read the guidance on: