Why is it required?
Information on why contemporaneous herd registers are required.
The contemporaneous herd register is required for the following reasons:-
- No amendment to the APHIS (Animal and Public Health Information System) database record for an animal may be made unless it is supported by strong documentary evidence. A contemporaneous herd register is considered to provide this level of evidence if it is not in conflict with other declarations made to the Department.
- When the age of an animal, and therefore eligibility for human consumption, is queried at point of slaughter, a number of checks are completed to validate date of birth information. For example where a retagged animal with 3-4 teeth is presented for Under Thirty Months (UTM) slaughter it is a requirement that the correlation between the old and new tag numbers is recorded in the herd register of retagging and that the register has been deemed to be contemporaneous. This check is based on the farmers herd register. One of the conditions of this check is that all entries into the register (either on computer or into a book) are made at the same time as events (contemporaneous), for example births, and that all entries are in chronological order. If the herd book check is satisfactory the original date of birth on APHIS is accepted and the carcase is allowed to proceed for human consumption.
