Farming Information

Cheshire is a predominantly rural county with 70% of the County’s land still remaining in agricultural production. The outbreak of Foot & Mouth Disease in 2001 brought significant changes in Legislation affecting the Farming Industry.  We therefore have a team of dedicated officers in Cheshire Trading Standards Service who are on hand to assist and advise farmers in complying with their statutory obligations.
 
We do this by:

• Monitoring Animal movements by Licence.
• Checking Movement and associated Records on Farms.
• Monitor Welfare standards of animal which are kept on farm, or are in transit or exposed for sale in Livestock markets.
• The carcase of any animal found on Agricultural premises has to be disposed of in compliance strict rules, we monitor that these rules are complied with.
• We maintain Contingency Plans which when deployed involve the assistance of the District Councils in Cheshire. These Plans exist to help support DEFRA in the event of any serious outbreak of animal disease.
• We monitor the import and export of any animals and take action if any illegal imports of animals are reported to us.

If you need more detailed information on meeting your legal obligations or indeed any practical assistance or advice the following links may be of help.

• Animal Movements
• Assistance in Recording and Tracing Animal Movements
• Animal Welfare in Transit
• Animal Carcase Disposal
• Contingency Planning- Foot & Mouth
• Bringing Pets to Great Britain

We have a range of Business Advice Leaflets on the principal pieces of Legislation which may affect you.  These can be downloaded from Trading Standards Central.

We also hold supplies of the main Statutory records movement documents you are required to keep and complete you can contact us directly to obtain these.

You may find the following links useful in relation to Animal Welfare:

Information about Bird Flu

• Defra - Avian Influenza (HPAI)
• Health Protection Agency

Further information is available from DEFRA on the following matters:

• Animal Health and Welfare:  Telephone: 01785 231900
• All other Agricultural matters:  Telephone: 01270 754000
• British Cattle Movement Service:  Telephone: 01900 702222
• Fallen Stock Scheme:  Telephone: 01270 619077

Confidential help for the Farming Community is available from:  

Rural Stress Information Network
Telephone: 024 7641 2916
Opening Hours: Weekdays 9am -5pm

Royal Agricultural Benevolent Fund
Telephone: 01865 727 888
Opening Hours: Weekdays 9am-5pm / 4.30pm Friday
 
Farm Crisis Network
Telephone: 07002 326 326
Opening Hours: 7pm to 10pm daily