Cattle
Information on Identification, Registration and Movement (IRM) of cattle in Northern Ireland. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) maintains records of cattle births, deaths and movements.
Introduction
The European Union (EU) requirements provide that all cattle keepers must notify the Department of the births, death (including stillbirths) and movement of cattle, animals must be double tagged and a herd register must be kept to record this information. Council Regulation (EC) No. 1760/2000 sets out the details of these requirements.
The Department is required to apply sanctions to animals and/or herds that do not comply with the Regulations. The purpose of these sanctions is to ensure that cattle and cattle products destined for human consumption are safe. Additionally the Regulations protect farmers and others buying cattle of unknown origin. In this way the marketability of cattle is enhanced and the confidence of consumers in the safety of beef is increased.
Related Links
Identification, Registration and Movement Leaflet
