Department encourages farmers to phone-in cattle movements

Written by Rachel Martin

A new, extended telephone service has been set up by Northern Ireland Minister of Agriculture Edwin Poots to avoid delays in the movement of cattle and help keep the food supply chain moving smoothly.

The DAERA Cattle Registration Telephony line currently facilities the notification of bovine births, deaths and market-to-farm confirmations.

However, from today (March 27), farmers who would normally register the movement of an animal in paper format with DAERA Direct offices, will be able to register this activity by telephone.

“Availability of food is critical and a strategic priority for the Executive. At present abattoirs cannot process an animal unless it is properly registered to that farmer’s herd,” Minister Poots explained.

“Any delays in either registering the birth of an animal or their movement from one farmer to another could potentially disrupt trade and the food supply chain. So this new telephone facility will help avoid that.

If farmers are already registered to use DAERA’s APHIS online system they should continue to use this to notify all cattle births, deaths and movements.

The Cattle Registration Telephone line is operational Monday to Friday from 9:00am-5:00pm and can be accessed on: 0300-200-7855.

This week Minister Poots also announced he would halt all routine inspections in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

‘Essential inspections‘ – such as Public Health Risk Sampling, Brucellosis and bovine Tb Surveillance – will continue where possible.

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