The Sheep and Goats (Records, Identification and Movement) Order (Northern Ireland) 2009

PART VI Holding registers

Holding registers

17.—(1) A person shall not contravene Article 5(1), (3) and (5) of the Council Regulation.

(2) When an animal is moved onto or from its holding, the keeper must—

(a) record in the holding register the information required by Section B of the Annex to the Council Regulation and the number of animals moved; or

(b) retain a duplicate or a certified copy of the movement document and keep such duplicate or copy with the register in chronological order with any other movement documents retained and shall—

(i) record the date of movement and the number of animals moved in the holding register; and

(ii) cross reference the movement document to the relevant movement records in the holding register.

(3) When an animal is re-identified the keeper shall record in the holding register the date of re-identification and the new identification code applied unless the identification code is the same.

(4) The register kept under Article 5(1) of the Council Regulation must be in a format approved by the Department.

(5) The keeper must complete the register—

(a) in the case of the birth of an animal, within 7 days of identification;

(b) in the case of the replacement of an identification mark, within 7 days of the replacement;

(c) in the case of the movement of an animal onto or from a holding other than to a central point of recording, within 7 days of the movement;

(d) in the case of a movement of an animal from a holding to a central point of recording, within 48 hours of the movement;

(e) in the case of the death of an animal, within 7 days of the discovery of the death.

(6) For the purposes of Article 5(3) of the Council Regulation, the period for which the holding register, including the duplicate or certified copies of the movement documents if kept in accordance with paragraph 2(b), must be available is 3 years from the last day when an animal referred to on the document dies or leaves the holding.

Derogation from holding registers

18.  In accordance with Article 5(4) of the Council Regulation the holding register shall be optional for any keeper—

(a) who is authorised by the Department to notify information electronically for entry to the centralised computer database;

(b) who provides the information required by Section B of the Annex to the Council Regulation and in the case of the movement of animals the number of animals moved; and

(c) who provides the information within the timescales specified in Article 17(5), and in the manner specified by the Department.

Inventory of animals

19.—(1) For the purpose of Article 7(2) of the Council Regulation, a person by whom a record is required to be kept under this Order shall annually check, on a date during the reconciliation period, the total numbers of animals on the holding including the categories, to which they belong, the occupation of the keeper and the type of production.

(2) The keeper of an animal shall record, by the end of the reconciliation period each year, the particulars specified in the holding register.

(3) The findings of an annual inventory carried out in accordance with paragraph (1) shall be communicated to the Department in such form and manner as it may from time to time determine.

(4) However, the inventory required under this Article shall be optional for any keeper—

(a) who is authorised in accordance with Article 18; and

(b) where the centralised computer database contains the identification mark of each animal kept on the holding.