Farmer criticises RPA’s approach on cattle passports

A dairy farmer has criticised the Rural Payments Agency for showing zero leniency over a single late passport application out of 4,400 in 20 years.

Michael Colwell, who farms 350 pedigree Jerseys, near Looe, in Cornwall, forgot to tick a box in the application process for one calf.

The British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS), which is part of the Rural Payments Agency (RPA), has told him that because of the clerical error, the animal cannot be moved off his farm for its whole life – and not even for slaughter.

See also: 6 livestock tech developments to look out for

This means that at the end of the animal’s life, Mr Colwell will not be able to receive any cull money.

Instead, he will have to pay about £100 for the knackerman to take her away.

Mr Colwell accepts that he made an error when he submitted his application for a few cattle passports last June.

However, he is angry that the BCMS has not sent him his 35 cattle passports which he applied for on 13 April.

His application included three beef-cross calves that he would normally sell at under 42 days before they have to be TB-tested.

But because the farmer has not received the passports and the animals are now aged over 42 days, he will have to pay about £200 to the vet to carry out a pre-movement test on the three calves and wait until the passports arrive before he can sell them on.

Additional costs

In the meantime, Mr Colwell will incur additional costs caring for the animals, including milk, straw, feed and labour.

He said: “It feels like we are not allowed to make one single mistake, yet when the Rural Payments Agency / BCMS make mistakes, there seems to be no comeback – let alone a reason or an apology.

“I can tolerate the financial hit, but it’s the way that we are treated which annoys me.”

Mr Colwell has sent the BCMS emails to complain about his treatment and he has not received any response yet.

An RPA spokesperson said: “We worked at pace to solve a technical issue which impacted the printing and posting of cattle passports from 12-14 April.

“It is now fully resolved, with the relevant passports being printed and posted to keepers today. We are sorry for any disruption this caused for cattle farmers.

“This was an isolated incident and we have taken steps to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”