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Less red tape for farmers as new animal movement rules go live

Farming Minister George Eustice announces simpler rules for livestock keepers to register land they use for animals.

The launch of simpler rules for livestock keepers to register land they use was announced by Farming Minister George Eustice today (27 July 2016).

From today until summer 2017, the new system for registering land on which livestock is kept will be rolled out. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will start contacting livestock keepers to help them transition to the new arrangements.

A first batch of individual letters will be sent to livestock keepers affected by the changes this week. The letters will remind farmers of these changes to animal movement rules and set out the options available to them. Keepers do not need to do anything until they are contacted.

Farming Minister George Eustice said:

Farming is a fundamental part of our rural economy, producing food, providing jobs and generating over £100 billion a year for our economy.

But our farmers often face overly complex rules and regulations. Making it simpler for them to understand what they need to do to will not only help them follow the rules – it will improve our disease control capability by ensuring better information on animal locations is being recorded onDefra’s livestock location database. Read More