Farmers urged to check passports during postal strike

Farmers are being urged to make sure that any paper-based notifications of cattle movements, births or deaths actually reach the British Cattle Movement Service during the postal strikes.

NFU Cymru’s livestock board chairman Ed Rees told a meeting at Glamorgan that there had been a number of incidents where birth registration forms for calves had arrived late or not at all.

“This has resulted in a lot of work in attempting to get passports issued for the animals in question. Anyone wishing to continue the use of the paper based methods for notifications should obtain a proof of postage certificate from Post Offices, or send by registered post, retaining the receipt as evidence that the information was sent in time,” he said.

“We urge everyone who is notifying BCMS of any cattle information to check that the information has arrived at BCMS and to make sure that passports arrive safely back on farm for any birth registrations made. The issue of passports is vital to the value of animals on farm and we do not want to see farmers having inspections and/or suffering penalties such as failure to issue passports or late notification of movements as a result of the ongoing postal strikes.”

Ed Rees added: “Changes made to the CTS online database have also caused some problems and anyone having problems with the new system should contact BCMS to notify or register any movements, births or deaths in order to ensure that the correct information is recorded within the correct time limits.”

Don’t forget that if your copy of Farmers Weekly has not arrived because of the strikes you can get a digital copy.