Register with BCMS or risk delayed cattle aid
8 December 2000
Register with BCMS or risk delayed cattle aid
CATTLE premium payments may be delayed and producers may find they are unable to move stock if they fail to register them correctly with the British Cattle Movement Service by Jan 29.
From then all cattle without a chequebook-style passport must have a certificate of registration by law, according to the Cattle Herd Registration Project management. That includes cattle which still have a blue-green passport.
Because the Cattle Count exercise on Sept 10 was voluntary, many producers have assumed they do not need to register all older cattle. That is definitely not the case.
Cattle producers should have received notification that the law changed on Dec 1, although they have been given until Jan 29, 2001 to obtain the necessary certificates. From that date it will be an offence to move any cattle born before Sept 28, 1998 which do not have a certificate of registration or a licence allowing them to be moved.
Failure to report the death of cattle born before July 1, 1996 will also become an offence, says CHRP. It is already an offence not to report death of cattle born after that date. Those born between July 1, 1996 and Sept 28, 1998 must be accompanied by the blue-green passport as well as the certificate of registration. Suckler premium for older cows without registration certificates could also be delayed, warns CHRP.
BCMS urges producers with unregistered cattle to notify it at once to ensure certificates are received by Jan 29, particularly for cattle for the over 30-month scheme. *