Farming

Farming

Health and welfare: Cattle

Maintaining high standards for animal health and welfare on the farm is essential for efficient production, establishing consumer confidence and managing risk of disease to both humans and animals.

The Farm Animal Welfare Council, which reviews farm animal welfare and advises government on the legislative or other requirements, recommends the following Five Freedoms for farm livestock:

  • freedom from hunger and thirst
  • freedom from discomfort
  • freedom from pain, injury or disease
  • freedom to express normal behaviour
  • freedom from fear and distress

While these freedoms provide general guidelines to avoid suffering and other harms, there are areas where specific guidance is available:

  • on-farm welfare
  • welfare at transport
  • welfare at market
  • welfare at slaughter

On-farm welfare

The Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2000 and equivalents in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales detail standards under which you must keep farm animals.

The regulations require that anyone attending animals must be familiar with and have access to appropriate welfare codes. The codes are specific to each species of animal and aim to establish the highest standards of husbandry. They cover general requirements for stockmanship, health, feeding, accommodation and management, as well as specific requirements for breeding and the dairy sector.

Animal Health carries out welfare inspections which may be planned visits, spot checks or following up allegations of poor welfare. Notice can be served to enforce regulations and, where necessary, Defra can initiate prosecutions for welfare offences.

Defra also provides a series of guides on subjects including improving calf survival, lameness, condition scoring, mastitis and ear tag welfare issues.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has a safety guide Handling and housing cattle with recommendations for maintaining your own health and that of the animal.

Welfare in transport

The Welfare of Animals (Transport) Order (WATO) 1997 covers the rules on transporting livestock, including requirements on vehicles, water, feed, rest, staff competence, documentation and hygiene.

Defra has produced a short guide which highlights the main welfare issues that need to be considered. The guide also highlights that it is an offence to transport animals:

  • in a way that causes injury or unnecessary suffering
  • that are unfit to travel
  • without arrangements for care
  • using excessive force to control them

For journeys of more than 50km animals must have a competent handler and you will require an Animal Transport Certificate.

If you wish to transport animals for more than eight hours – or by rail, sea or air - you will need ‘specific authorisation’, for which you will need to apply through your nearest Animal Health Divisional Office. Again, you must ensure the animals are being moved by a competent handler.

For any journey lasting more than eight hours provision must be made for water, feed and rest. For details of these see Defra’s Summary of Welfare of Animals Transport Order (1997) rules. After a maximum period on the road animals must be rested for 24 hours.

See Summary of general requirements of WATO and Defra guides for further details on topics including construction and maintenance of vehicles, journey times and vehicle ventilation.

Separate guidelines on transporting casualty farm animals advise you whether to transport them to a slaughterhouse.

Welfare in markets

Achieving a high standard of welfare at market requires:

  • well-maintained, welfare-friendly equipment
  • sympathetic handling by competent people

Defra’s Welfare of animals in livestock markets - code of practice covers the need for calm and careful handling, penning arrangements, shelter and feeding and watering where necessary. It also includes a number of specific points for cattle, including:

  • keeping adult males apart and away from other animals
  • calves not being sent to market more than twice in the previous four weeks

Welfare at slaughter

There are specific rules covering the handling, stunning, and slaughter or killing of animals. In particular;

  • slaughtermen must hold a Registered Licence
  • in every slaughterhouse a competent person must have authority to safeguard welfare
  • only permitted methods may be used to stun or kill animals

See Welfare of Animals Slaughter or Killing (WASK) Regulations 1995 – an explanatory guide, amendments and “pocket guides” on Pre-slaughter handling and Stunning and sticking for further details on maintaining welfare standards at slaughter.

The HSE has a guide on Preparing cattle for slaughter and The Food Standards Agency produces animal hygiene guides including:

Health

The key requirements for maintaining high health standards in cattle are disease control and surveillance.

Defra has an A-Z disease index and a table of notifiable diseases, you must report suspicions of a notifiable disease your Animal Health Divisional Office. See also Defra’s information on disease control for more information.

Major notifiable diseases  which may affect cattle include:

  • Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)
  • Foot and mouth disease
  • Bovine tuberculosis (bTB)

Defra’s veterinary surveillance programme has details of other major cattle diseases, including brucellosis, bovine viral diarrhoea, salmonella and Johne’s disease.

The Health and Safety Executive has guides on Common zoonoses in agriculture – diseases which can affect humans - while the National Beef Association has information sheets on a wide variety of health issues including biosecurity, infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) and bovine TB.

Useful links

Defra

External

Further information

Defra helpline – 08459 33 55 77

Page last modified: 13 September 2007
Page published: 1 July 2006

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs