Testing: To be eligible for movement, all cattle, including calves six weeks of age and over, have to be within 12 months of TB testing. Calves over 14 days of age and under 42 days of age can be sold or moved without testing provided the herd is free from TB. Animals cannot be sold or temporarily moved through a mart or farm to farm movement where either herd is restricted for movement due to TB. There are special allowances for cattle moving off-farm directly for slaughter.

Female stock and bulls greater than 24 months of age must be within 60 days of Brucellosis testing (blood test) before moving off the farm. Again, the exception to this is animals moving direct for slaughter.

Applying for temporary movements: Keepers moving animals to or from a B&B holding must obtain a certificate of cross compliance prior to movement. This can be received by sending a completed application form, NBAS 31B, to your local DVO office or by applying through the Department’s Agfood online facility. Hardcopy forms can be obtained from your local DVO or on the Department’s website. Again, testing dates should be taken into account and the potential risk from reactors if animals need to be tested before moving back to the holding.

QPS movements: Do not forget that a temporary movement will also be counted as a change of ownership for QPS purposes. Moving the animal temporarily, or for B&B purposes, will be counted as two changes of ownership and show the animal as having three owners (change when animal is leaving the herd and change when coming back into the herd). To be eligible for the QPS Quality Assurance 12c/kg bonus, an animal can have a maximum of four owners before being slaughtered. Also remember, moving the animal temporarily will break the 70-day residency rule where animals must spend the final 70 days on-farm before slaughter.

Scheme payments: To be eligible for payment under the beef data programme (€20 for first 30 calves in herd and €10 for next 20 calves) calves must be maintained on the holding until at least five months of age for data recording. In the absence of approval from the Department of Agriculture, changing the ownership of calves will deem a calf ineligible for payment.

The other scheme that may be affected by temporary changes in ownership is meeting stocking rate requirements for the disadvantaged area scheme. Under the guidelines of the scheme, a minimum stocking rate of 0.15LU/ha must be maintained over the 12 months with a minimum retention period of 0.15LU/ha for seven calendar months.