Farm-Related Consultations Launched
In regards to the first consultation the proposal to reduce the frequency of on-farm official inspection in the dairy aims to “reduce the burden of official controls on dairy production holdings in England and Wales by recognising, where applicable, the hygiene aspects of the results of audits carried out by Assured Dairy Farms, while maintaining consumer safety.” To see the consultation document please click here.
The BCVA has issued a response to this (available here), which states: “We consider a reduction in inspection frequency to lower risk dairy farms to be an improvement on the current situation, as it reduces the number of inspections and administrative burden on dairy farmers. It also creates an incentive for farmers to reduce risk.” However, the association also states that: “Consideration of any potential impact on food safety and consumer confidence needs to be made.”
The consultation on the simplification of livestock movement rules and holding identifiers in England concerns a “Proposal to simplify livestock movement rules and holding identifiers to give a clearer picture of when livestock move and which land parcels they are on. Additionally included is a related proposal for sheep and goat movement reporting rules to succeed the current transitional arrangements.” The consultation document is available here.
The BCVA has also issued a response to this consultation. In this the association states: “BCVA welcomes the simplification of movement rules and agrees that the current system is over-complicated and leads to confusion. We also feel that the current system of Sole Occupancy Authorities allows uncontrolled movement of animals in a way which is not conducive to disease control. We do however believe that these measures have to be introduced in conjunction with the review of the Pre-Movement testing regime for Bovine TB. There is a very real danger that a system could be created which required no recording of movements under the simplified rules but required the testing of the animals pre-movement. This would lead to even more confusion and would be almost impossible to regulate. Bovine TB is the single largest endemic disease problem faced by this country and any movement rules should reflect the need to control the spread of this disease.”
Defra has published guidance for the vet sector ahead of a proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
