Trading Standards officers play an important role in the health and welfare of farm animals and livestock, protecting and improving livestock and controlling and eradicating disease.

We achieve this by:

• Monitoring animal movements by licence
• Checking movement and associated records on farms
• Monitoring welfare standards of animals kept on farms, or are in transit or exposed for sale in livestock markets.

In the aftermath of the foot and mouth outbreak a rigorous regime of licensing which controls the movement of a range of farm animals has been introduced. The most common animals whose movements have to be licensed are sheep, pigs, cattle and goats.

For further information about livestock farming: www.defra.gov.uk/food-farm/animals

For further information on how to protect your birds from avian flu: www.defra.gov.uk/publications/2012/01/20/pb12545-protect-birds-from-disease/

Holding Register

Farmers who keep sheep and goats need to keep a record of all movements. The following document is a shortened version of the DEFRA current holding register. Pages from this document can be photocopied as needed.
Holding register - shortened version [PDF 1.6MB]

A copy of the full version can be found on the DEFRA website at: www.defra.gov.uk/publications/2011/03/27/holding-register-pb13281