An article on cattle records in today’s Farmers Weekly contains a quote from a Cross Compliance adviser claiming that around 50% of livestock farms inspected failed on cattle identification and/or movements. Obviously this represents a very significant cost to individual farmers and the cattle industry.

The article reports that errors range from failure to notify passports and passports through to animal holding breaches, which are all on the increase. Farmers using linked holdings for temporary grazing are one of the main problem areas, because the link is only valid for one year; this is easily forgotten since no reminder is issued at the time the link expires.

Since farm record inspections can occur at any time, it’s important to have an efficient recording systems in place. Orchid’s Herd Management PC software offers cattle farmers a complete solution for accurate and timely cattle BCMS cattle recording:

• Easy to use – designed by farmers
• Officially approved Internet link to the BCMS for passport and movement notifications
• Herd Register report in official DEFRA format
• Easy tracking of animals between holdings – including a shared facility land link function
• Full time UK help desk for support and remote software training over the Internet

Check out the two short screen movie links below to see how easy it is to report passports and movements to the CTS using Orchid. The videos open in a new window and include audio narration.

Applying for cattle passports
Notifying cattle movements

Further details on the Orchid Herd Management software can be found at the Orchid Data website or calling 01536 443300