Cattle identification visits: what to expect

By law, the regulatory bodies of England and Wales must carry out cattle identification checks. Field Officers may visit your holding to check that you’re following the rules for cattle, bison and buffalo identification and record keeping. If you are not, and do not resolve any issues they find, you may be at risk of movement restrictions.

A visit might include an examination of:

• the cattle on your holding, their ear tags and passports
• your holding register
• your unused ear tags

The cattle identification visit must take place within 48 hours of us first contacting you about it.

How farms are chosen

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) checks at least 3% of holdings annually. 20% of those holdings are chosen at random and 80% are selected according to risk. (Field Officers are more likely to visit holdings where we have found problems before.)

What you need to do for a visit

The Field Officer will check the cattle currently on your holding(s).

You must let the Field Officer see all the documents and records that they ask for. It is against the law not to have documents available to check. You will need:

• your holding register (on paper or on a computer)
• all animal passports and registration documents

To make sure the Field Officer can safely check your animals, you need to provide:

• people to gather the cattle
• suitable handling facilities.

You will be responsible for the animals’ welfare during the inspection.

At the end of the visit the Field Officer will ask you to sign a form (CPP18) to confirm that the visit has taken place and will leave a copy with you.

If you obstruct the Field Officer, your whole herd will be restricted. Obstruction includes you not:

• allowing the visit to happen
• gathering animals for checking
• providing adequate handling facilities and labour
• presenting holding register and passports

Obstruction also includes abusive or aggressive behaviour.

How long the visit takes

The Field Officer will aim to carry out the checks quickly and efficiently, with as little disruption to you as possible. How long a visit takes depends on the size of your holding, how many cattle are involved, and how clear and accurate your records are.

What the Field Officer will check

The Field Officer’s checks will include that:

• your holding register shows which animals are or have been on the holding
• you have recorded all births, movements and deaths correctly
• all animals are correctly tagged and their tags match their identification documents
• you have all the identification documents and that they are correct
• you have met the deadlines for identifying cattle and keeping records
• you have passed all identification documents for animals that have moved or died to the new keeper or returned them to the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS)
• you are storing all unused ear tags securely

If RPA find problems

Problems with cattle passports and animal identity

If the Field Officer finds a problem with any cattle passports (for example, the wrong sex has been entered), they will collect these passports from you and give you a receipt (CPP18/18a).

If BCMS can correct the passports, they will do so and return them to you free of charge. You should check them carefully when you receive them. If you have not received them within 4 weeks of the inspection, contact BCMS.

If the Field Officer finds unidentified animals, you will:

• get a Notice to Prove Identity and Traceability (CPP30). Until you’ve proved their identity, you cannot move them off your holding.
• be asked to fit BCMS management tags to the animals

If you cannot prove the identity of the animal, you may get a Notice of Removal for Compulsory Slaughter (CPP31). This means the animal will be destroyed.  You will not get compensation and BCMS may charge you for the costs.

Problems with less than 20% of your herd or records

If the Field Officer finds differences between tags, passports and records, or reporting failures, that affect less than 20% of your herd, they may put movement restrictions on the relevant animals.

The Field Officer will either take the passports away to be corrected or give you a movement restriction notice (form CPP27) describing what you need to do.

If you are given a notice, you must tell BCMS as soon as you have taken the required action(s). BCMS will then check to confirm if the restriction can be lifted. A Field Officer may return to check the animals are correctly identified.

In either case, it’s an offence to move the animals off your holding until the passports are returned or the restriction is lifted.

Problems with more than 20% of your herd or records

If the Field Officer finds differences between tags, passports and records, or reporting failures, that affect more than 20% of your herd, they will give you a movement restriction notice for your whole herd (CPP28).

The notice will:

• list all the animals on your holding
• state whether the restriction applies to movements both on and off the holding or only to off movements
• tell you what you need to do to put things right

You will also get a letter from BCMS telling you what you need to do for the movement restriction to be lifted.

It is an offence to move animals under a movement restriction.

When 80% of your cattle meet the regulations, you must either:

• tell BCMS
• submit a notice of compliance form (CPP29)

If you are not sure whether you have reached the 80% level, contact BCMS, who will then write to you to confirm:

• if the whole-herd restriction is lifted
• any animals with discrepancies that are still restricted to your holding

A Field officer may revisit your holding to check that you have taken the right action. If you give any false information to lift a movement restriction, further action may be taken against you.

Animal welfare

If the Field Officer finds that you are not meeting animal welfare standards, they will report this to the local authority, which has responsibility for enforcing welfare rules.

You could also be breaking other rules, risking a reduction to any payments you receive under other schemes.

Penalties

Payment reductions

If the Field Officer finds problems, you could face penalties and reductions to any scheme claims you have.

Prosecution

You could face legal action over problems found at a visit. If a court finds you guilty of an offence, it may set severe penalties, including fines of up to £5,000 for each animal. In the worst cases, the court can also issue prison sentences.

Cross compliance

Cross compliance in England ended on 31 December 2023. If you are a farmer or land manager in England, find out what this means for you.

Cross Compliance still applies in Wales.

Contact BCMS