Last month we had a look at calf management, this month I am having a brief look at livestock management requirements for Red Tractor.

Identification and traceability:
Government legislation and Red Tractor require that cattle are identified with the use of ear tags and are traceable with the keeping of movement records. Although these are long standing requirements, they are regularly raised as non-conformances due to lack of knowledge about timings for tagging or what records are required.

• Cattle must be double tagged within 20 days of birth – the first tag being issued in the first 36 hours of life.
• Although we all know that cattle lose their ear tags regularly, it is important that those missing a tag must have it replaced as soon as possible, not once a year at TB testing…
• Births, deaths and movement records must be kept up to date – notification timescale to the national database depends on the system used e.g. BCMS must be notified of births with 27 days, deaths within 7 days and movements within 3 days.

Health plans and reviews:

• Livestock health plan must be reviewed by the vet annually and should include all aspects of mastitis, biosecurity, vaccinations, drying off management, calving, youngstock management and euthanasia. Supplement plans are available for beef and sheep stock.
• Annual reviews can be produced by the farmer (using templates available) using data collated from medicine, culling, mortality records.
• New standards from October 2019 require that all farms have a National Johnes Management plan (signed and produced by a BCVA accredited Johnes Veterinary Advisor) and a BVD Eradication Programme, designed in conjunction with the vet.

Isolation of sick/injured livestock:

• Sick, non-infectious stock – facility for isolation can be located within/close to other livestock housing.
• Infectious stock – facility must be fully washable (with disinfectant), does not allow sharing of airspace or direct contact with other livestock.

Fallen stock:

• Fallen stock must be removed promptly from housing/pens/fields.
• Carcasses must be stored in a manner to prevent biosecurity, vermin, public, milk production issues.
• Disposing of fallen stock must be done with a licensed collector. Incinerators must be APHA approved (certification required).

If you require help with a pre-inspection audit to ensure all is in order, please contact Emily at emilywynder@fcgagric.com or your local FCG office.