REVISION TO ANIMAL MOVEMENT REGULATIONS NOW IN EFFECT

Posted on 22 August 2012

New rules came into force this July regarding animal movements and compensation for those affected by bovine tuberculosis (bTB) as well as changes to Sole Occupancy Areas (SOAs).

Animal Movements

Until now, there has been an exception to the prohibition on movement from a holding within the 60 days following a clear bTB test, in favour of those animals which have been present on the holding for less than 30 days at the time of movement. The exception has now been revoked and this is no longer the case.

Rules on pre-movement testing for animals attending shows has also been revised. The exemption for animals attending shows but immediately going to slaughter or back to the farm has been revoked for those animals from a ‘high-risk’ herd (ie. for any herd subject to one or two year testing intervals) where the animals are housed on the show ground or present there for over 24 hours.

Sole Occupancy Areas

SOAs are separate areas of land, which are brought together under licence and treated as one single unit for livestock movement purposes.

Under the new rules, it is no longer possible to create new SOAs or to enlarge existing ones. Furthermore, the new rules have introduced a restriction on livestock movement within any SOA which spans both high and low risk areas, without testing prior to any such movement.

Compensation

A new compensation category for those affected by bTB has been introduced for pedigree beef animals up to six months old and the category for dairy calved animals has been divided into two bands, split either side of seven years old.

Furthermore, to encourage prompt testing of animals for bTB, a sliding scale of compensation reductions has been introduced.

Overdue by more than 60 days but less than 90: payments reduced by 25%.
Overdue by more than 90 days but less than 180: payments reduced by 50%
Overdue by more than 180 days: payments reduced by 95%.