Why do we inspect sheep and goats?
The Scottish Government carry out sheep and goat identification inspections each year to ensure that keepers of sheep and goats are complying with animal identification and traceability legislation set by the UK and EU. We must inspect 3% of holdings and 5% of animals each year.
What the inspector does
The inspector will compare the records to the information supplied to SAMU and ScotEID, the movement documents and purchase and sales invoices.
The inspector will count your animals to verify the accuracy of your records and check a representative sample of eartags to ensure the sheep have been tagged correctly and the identifiers are included in the records.
The inspector confirms whether the five key requirements of identification and traceability legislation have been complied with. The key requirements are:
- Record Keeping
- Tagging
- Keeper registration (with AHVLA)
- Completion of movement documents
- Notifying moves to SAMU
Where can you find out more?
The following guidance notes are used by Scottish Government staff who carry out sheep and goat inspections.