Trading standards Moving livestock
CPH Numbers
Before moving livestock (Cattle, Sheep & Goats, Pigs), you'll need a County Parish Holding number (CPH) for the land where the livestock are to be kept. To apply for a CPH you need to contact;
The Rural Payments Agency (RPA)
Tel: 0300 020 0301
Email: ruralpayments@defra.gsi.gov.uk
CPH numbers are used when recording and tracing movements of livestock between premises. This is important for disease control and the human food chain. An example of a holding number is 35/345/00050 the “35” stands for the county the “345” stands for the parish and the “0050” is the individual premises.
Keeping horses do not require a holding number (CPH). Recent changes now make it mandatory to register chickens with DEFRA for disease control purposes such as Avian Flu.
Animal movements
Movements take place under what is known as a General Licence granted by Defra, which sets out the conditions for the move. You can obtain a copy from the Defra website or from your local APHAO.
The general conditions include, observing appropriate standstill periods, cleansing and disinfection, animal ID, scheduled stops and various exemptions.
- Download the application forms for sheep and goat movements from the GOV.UK website
- Download the application forms for general cattle movements from the GOV.UK website
- Download the application form for pig movements from the GOV.UK website
Sheep and goats
Movements of sheep and goats must be accompanied by the movement document known as LIS1. This document contains the details of the movement, departure CPH, destination CPH, number of sheep/goats, identification, date and transporter details. The document must travel with the animals. You must also retain your copy for 3 years. Details as to who keeps what copy are on the bottom of the form. Please note that a copy should be kept by the departure premises, the transporter and the destination. A copy should be sent to (LIS) Livestock Information Service.
It is the destination premise owners/keeper’s responsibility to send the white copy to LIS within 3 days of the sheep/goats arrival. If the receiving destination owner/keeper is located outside of England, please post the white copy to the relevant administrator of destination. For movement licences, please contact your nearest livestock market or download the online form on the LIS website.
LIS contact information
Livestock Information Service,
C/o Defra,
Curwen Road,
Workington,
CA14 2DD
Website: Livestock information
Email: info@livestockinformation.org.uk
For Livestock Information Service support please contact their specialist support team at: support@livestockinformation.org.uk or call 03300 416 577.
Cattle
Cattle that are moved are accompanied by a cattle passport. These were a chequebook style document which have now been changed to a A4 paper document. The cattle passport contains the details of the animal and movements, which are recorded, signed and dated by the keeper within 36 hours of the move.
The British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) provides a keeper with a passport for an animal when they're born. The keeper must register the animals birth by providing its dams identity and the date of birth to the BCMS within 7 days of the date it is tagged (or in the case of a dairy herd, 7 days from the date the second tag was applied).
The passport should be sold with the animal. BCMS also provides a sticker for the keeper to administer to the passport with the CPH number. The movements of cattle must be reported within 3 days. This can be done online, by post or by phone to the BCMS with whom you will need to register with.
BCMS contact information
BCMS
Curwen Road
Workington
Cumbria
CA14 2DD
Email: ctsonline@bcms.rpa.gsi.gov.uk
Website: BCMS
Tel: 0345 050 1234
When registering or purchasing cattle, it is important to check that the details on the passport match the animal. If the details are not correct, you can contact BCMS to update it. This is important for traceability and the human food chain. If details are not correct, it can affect whether the animal can go into the food chain. It is an offence to tamper with a passport. You must report any deaths to BCMS within 7 days and send the passport back to BCMS (please note that there is a section in the passport for deaths).
If a passport is lost, stolen or destroyed, the keeper must notify the BCMS within 14 days in writing.
Pigs
Before you move pigs, you must make sure that...
- Your pigs are correctly identified
- You have a county parish holding (CPH) number for your land
You must report all pig movements using electronic animal movement licensing (eAML2). You’ll need to register the first time you use it. After you’ve registered, you’ll be able to set up and confirm off and on movements.
If you cannot use eAML2 to report movements online, you’ll need to call their helpline each time you want to move pigs. You’ll need to allow time for them to set up the move and send you the movement documents in the post before you can move the pigs.
For more information about eAML2 and how to report pig movement, please visit the GOV.UK website.
eAML2 contact information
eAML2 Bureau Service, Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, Middlemarch Business Park, Siskin Parkway East, Coventry CV3 4PE
Website: eAML2
Tel: 0844 335 8400
Horses
Horses are not considered a farmed animal in the UK so no holding number is required. However horses, ponies and donkey owners must have a passport for their animals. Passports are issued by a multitude of passport issuing organisations (PIO). It's a legal requirement to have a horse passport. A passport must accompany a horse at all times except in specific situations when it must be readily available for inspection within a certain time limit.
All horses must be microchipped. Horses born before 31 July 2009 that do not have a microchip must be signed out of the human food chain.
Horses should not be moved without a passport unless under the certain circumstances such as stabling, short hack or ride and moved for pasture. For more information, please visit the horse passport agency website.
Horse passport agency contact information
- Address: PO Box 74, Ellesmere, SY12 2AD
- Phone number: 03330 124112 (Monday - Friday 10am - 4pm)
Six day standstill rule
When livestock arrive onto your holding, it will trigger a movement standstill. This means no animal can move off the holding for a certain period of time. The standstill rule is to protect against the spread of disease.
Pigs trigger a 20 day standstill on other pigs when they move onto a holding. For cattle, sheep or goats on that holding, pigs trigger a 6 day standstill.
Cattle, sheep and goats moving onto a holding will impose a 6 day standstill on any cattle, sheep, goats or pigs already on that holding.
The only exemptions to the standstill rule are moves directly to slaughter or red markets/slaughter collection centres.
For example, if cattle or sheep are moved onto a holding which already contain sheep or cattle on a Tuesday, that holding becomes locked down for six clear days. Animals can be moved on the seventh day, which is the following Tuesday.
If a pig is moved onto a holding with pigs already present on a Wednesday, all pigs will be locked down for twenty clear days. They can be moved on the twenty first day which would also be a Wednesday.
Contact us
- Email: animalhealth@shropshire.gov.uk
- Phone number: 0345 678 9000
Contact us
- Email: animalhealth@shropshire.gov.uk
- Telephone: 0345 678 9067
- Address: Public Protection, Shropshire Council, Shirehall, Abbey Foregate, Shropshire, SY2 6ND