Livestock movements, identification and tracing: cattle - general information on identification and traceability
Cattle are required to be identified with eartags giving them a unique identity within the national herd. Those born since 1 July 1996 must also be accompanied by a cattle passport confirming the identification details – sex, breed, date of birth, identification of the mother – and recording its movement history.
Details of all births, movements between holdings (farms, markets and slaughterhouses) and deaths of individual cattle must be notified as they happen to the central Cattle Tracing System (CTS) computer database run by the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) of the Rural Payments Agency (RPA).
Cattle keepers must also keep an up-to-date, accurate herd register of the cattle on their holding, recording identification numbers, breed and sex, dates of births, deaths and movements on and off their farms, together with details of where the cattle came from or went to, and the identification of the mother.
A full and comprehensive guide on the rules for identifying, registering
and keeping cattle is contained in the BCMS
Cattle Keepers' Handbook. The BCMS also operates a dedicated
helpline to deal with all queries.
This system provides traceability of cattle from birth to death. It underpins all disease control programmes for cattle, particularly BSE and bovine TB. It provides general assurance for consumers of the provenance of beef and dairy products, and in particular underpins the effectiveness of the BSE testing system in slaughterhouses to prevent infected beef reaching the food chain.
The legislative requirements for cattle identification and traceability are covered on the legislation page.
See also – consultation on review and consolidation of the Cattle Identification Regulations 1998. This consultation has now closed.
How Defra ensures the requirements are being met
Local Authorities and Defra agencies have powers under the Cattle Identification Regulations to take enforcement action against any keepers that do not fully comply.
The Rural Payments Agency, an executive agency for Defra, has responsibility for carrying out cattle identification inspections (CII) to check compliance with the identification and registration requirements.
Local Authority Trading Standards also carry out checks on cattle identification and records in their programme of farm audits and at inspections at markets and of animals in transit.
Page last modified:
30 November, 2007
Page published: 12 February, 2007