The Department of Agriculture recently contacted all holdings registered on its system as an equine premises to notify them that they will be contacted later this year regarding an equine census.

Any holding which possesses equines must be registered as an equine holding.

Breeding farms registering the births of foals with a stud book will already be registered as an equine premises, as this is required as part of the birth registration process.

However, there is still likely to be holdings which possess equines and are who are not registered as an equine premises.

For example, this could relate to premises which possess aged equines where the change of ownership was not registered with a stud book.

Breach of cross compliance

Failure to register a premises is a breach of cross compliance and animal identification rules,so it is important to keep on the right side of the law in this regard.

An application form to register your premises can be downloaded here.

Registered premises must have a nominated keeper. Holdings that are already registered to keep cattle and/or sheep/goats will have their registration amended to include horses.

The application form is straightforward to fill in and on completion should be submitted to your local Department of Agriculture regional office.