Cheshire is mainly a rural county with 70% of the County’s land still remaining in agricultural production. The outbreak of foot and mouth disease in 2001 brought significant changes in legislation affecting the farming industry. We have a team of dedicated officers in Regulatory Services and Health 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
- monitoring compliance with legislation, including the correct disposal of livestock carcasses found
- we maintain contingency plans which operate in the event of animal disease outbreaks, and during which we assist and support DEFRA/APHA
- we also enforce the relevant disease control legislation.
- we monitor the import and export of any animals and take action when any illegal imports of animals are reported to us
Welfare related links for farmers
Confidential help for the farming community is available from:
- Royal Agricultural Benevolent Fund
Phone: 01865 724931 Freephone Helpline: 0800 188 4444
Opening Hours: Weekdays 9am-5pm / 4.30pm Friday - The Farming Community Network
To speak to someone: 03000 111 1999 Non-urgent enquiries: Phone: 0845 367 9990 Email: help@fcn.org.uk