- Proposals will reduce red tape for farmers and pave the way
for a new and improved digital cattle registration system.
- Views sought in eight-week consultation on an updated system
By law all bovines in England must be registered with the British
Cattle Movement Service to allow the government to identify and
locate livestock in the event of an animal disease outbreak or
food safety incident.
The proposals – subject to an eight-week consultation –
include the use of new digital technology to remove cumbersome
paper processes making the system easier to navigate and less
time consuming for keepers.
These changes will enable the Government to trace disease more
quickly and effectively and help safeguard national public health
and food safety. This will also strengthen the UK position in
international markets.
Biosecurity Minister said:
“By registering their cattle, farmers and keepers play an
important role in protecting the national herd from insidious
diseases such as Bovine TB and Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
(BSE).
“I urge all those with an interest to respond to this
consultation to help ease unnecessary administrative burdens and
take advantage of digitisation, to make registration of
cattle much easier.”
The government has engaged closely with industry to understand
the difficulties of the current system, which also covers bison
and buffalo - and how they can be resolved.
As well as the introduction of bovine electronic identification
(BeID), other new proposals include a fairer and more
proportionate regulatory framework, and greater flexibility such
as for late registration of calves, so that farmers do not suffer
financially by having them excluded from the food chain.
This consultation forms part of the wider Livestock Information
Transformation Programme, which will replace the existing
domestic traceability databases with one multi-species platform.
Bovines will have a new database that will make tracing
individual animals quicker and easier, which will help to reduce
the harm caused by a disease outbreak.
The consultation launched
yesterday (21 September) will run for 8 weeks until 23:59 on 15
November.