Information Bulletin
06 June 2006
Traceability and Reporting of Movement of Sheep
Environmental Health wish to remind crofters and sheep dealers of the legal requirements governing the movement of sheep. These rules are in place to ensure traceability of livestock in the event of a disease outbreak such as the highly infectious foot and mouth disease.
When sheep move from a croft they must be accompanied by a movement document detailing the place of departure and destination and the transporter.
Environmental Health have required that Northlink ensure that these requirements are implemented before stock is permitted on the boat.
The crofter or dealer wishing to ship sheep from Shetland must therefore provide a movement document detailing the movement from the croft of origin to the final destination on the mainland before the sheep will be accepted at the lairage on the pier. Any sheep not accompanied by a correct movement document will not be permitted to be unloaded.
If dealers wish to batch sheep from a number of crofts of origin into lots or split lots they must still provide the staff managing the pier lairage with the movement documents from the croft of origin for all sheep to the pier before they can be unloaded. The lots can be split and rebatched before shipping provided the dealer completes the correct paperwork. The dealer must therefore supply the staff with a movement document for each lot from the Pier to a final destination on the mainland, detailing transporter and the correct CPH number for the receiving destination. Failure to provide the correct paperwork for each lot will result in the refusal to load the sheep for shipping.
Environmental Health officers will be checking to ensure that the correct destination is identified on the movement documents. Failure to complete movement documents correctly or move sheep without movement documents is an offence and appropriate enforcement action will be taken when evidence of such offences are found.
For further information or advice on completing movement documents contact Environmental Health on 01595 744800.
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