Volume 14: Responsibilities for Human and Animal Health
2. Identification and control of animals showing symptoms of disease
Cattle identification and tracing

2.26 Effective control of animal disease required a means of identifying individual animals so that their movements could be traced. The Tuberculosis (England and Wales) Order 1984, ¹ made under the Animal Health Act, required owners of bovine animals to mark or identify them in a manner approved by the appropriate Minister and maintain such marks so that they were clearly identifiable. ² This requirement did not apply to an animal less than 14 days old that was not removed, or was removed only to a slaughterhouse, within that 14-day period.

2.27 The Movement of Animals (Records) Order 1960 ³ required all animal movements to be formally recorded, with the exception of:

1. those between different parts of the same premises;
2. movements to or from any premises for feeding, watering or milking purposes, and returns to the same premises, provided that the return took place within 24 hours of the first movement;
3. movements of pigs (these were subject to different legislation); and
4. movements to or from lairs, wharves or approved landing places used for imported animals.

These recording requirements did not apply to persons acting as market authorities or auctioneers at any market, saleyard, fairground or other premises, or to persons responsible for holding exhibitions of animals, or to anyone carrying on the business of transporting goods by rail, road, air or water when they were moving animals in the course of that business on behalf of other persons. ⁴

2.28 New measures to improve record-keeping in cattle herds were introduced in 1990, partly in response to BSE. These are described in ch. 5, vol. 5: Animal Health, 1989-96. The Bovine Animals (Identification, Marketing and Breeding Records) Order 1990 required owners to identify their animals and keep a record of all calves born into the herd, including the identity of the dam, ⁵ within 36 hours of birth in the case of dairy animals or seven days for all other cattle. It also prohibited the movement of identified animals and, by means of the Tuberculosis (England and Wales) (Amendment) Order 1990, took on certain identification and marking provisions from the 1984 Order. The movement of Animals (Records) (Amendment) Order 1990 amended the 1960 Order by requiring records to be kept for ten years instead of three years, as previously. ⁶