New requirement for farmers to provide evidence of annual vets visits comes into effect
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From Wednesday, December 13 all livestock farmers who produce livestock or livestock products that end up in the food chain and which may be exported to the European Union will require proof of an annual vet visit.
The UK government's department for environment, food and rural affairs (Defra) has worked with industry and can confirm that farms in certain farm assurance schemes don’t need to do anything new.
The current qualifying farm assurance schemes are:
• Red Tractor.
• Quality Meat Scotland (QMS).
If you are not part of the above farm assurance schemes, Vet Attestation visits should be combined with other routine vet visits wherever possible.
They will provide you with a visit receipt, showing that they have been there. You should both keep a copy of that receipt.
The vet will also give you a ‘Vet Attestation Number’ – known as a ‘VAN’ – that is valid for a year from date of visit. You will need to write this VAN on your Food Chain Information (FCI) document when you sell livestock destined for slaughter through a livestock market.
