Rural Payments and Services

The aim of these rules is to protect the welfare of farmed animals by setting minimum standards for their care and husbandry. They apply to any species kept for farming purposes.

You must:

Staffing

1. make sure that your animals are looked after by enough staff who have the correct skills and knowledge

Inspection

2. make sure your animals are inspected thoroughly at least once a day if your husbandry system depends on frequent human attention and in other systems as often as necessary to avoid suffering

3. make sure that there is enough lighting so that you can carry out a thorough inspection of the animals at any time

4. make sure that you care for ill or injured animals immediately, and if they do not respond to this care then seek veterinary advice

5. isolate sick or injured animals in suitable accommodation with dry comfortable bedding, if necessary

Record keeping

6. maintain a record of any medicinal treatment given to your animals, and keep these records for at least three years from the date of the treatment and make these records available to any authorised person at inspection (or when otherwise asked for)

7. maintain a record of the number of deaths found when the animals are inspected, and keep these records for at least three years from the date of the relevant inspection and make these records available to any authorised person at inspection (or when otherwise asked for)

Freedom of movement

8. give your animals enough space to avoid necessary stress, if they are continuously or regularly tethered or confined, and also allow them to show their normal behaviour in line with established experience and scientific knowledge

Buildings and accommodation

9. use materials for animal accommodation that can be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected

10. build and maintain accommodation so that there are no sharp edges or protrusions which could injure your animals

11. keep air circulation, dust levels, temperature, relative air humidity and gas concentrations within limits that will not harm your animals

12. provide artificial lighting if there is not sufficient natural light in a building

Animals not kept in buildings

13. give your animals that are not kept in buildings access to a well-drained lying area at all times and, if necessary, protection from adverse weather conditions, predators and other risks to their health

Automatic or mechanical equipment

14. check automated and/or mechanical equipment that is essential for the health and well-being of your animals at least once a day and put right any faults immediately (or take appropriate steps to protect the health and well-being of your animals until you can get the fault put right)

15. provide an appropriate back-up to the main system if your animals health and well-being depends upon artificial ventilation and an alarm to warn you if the ventilation system fails. Inspect and test these at least once every seven days

Feed, water and other substances

16. feed your animals a wholesome diet in sufficient quantities and making sure that they have access to feed at intervals appropriate to their needs (and, in any case, at least once a day)

17. give all animals access to a suitable water supply and enough fresh drinking water or other fluid

18. minimise any contamination of food and water and the harmful effects of competition between animals for food and water through the design and location of feeding and watering equipment

You must not:

Freedom of movement

1. restrict your animals freedom of movement if this causes them unnecessary suffering or injury

Buildings and accommodation

2. use materials and/or equipment for accommodation purposes that is harmful to your animals

3. keep animals in permanent darkness or without an appropriate rest period from artificial lighting

Feed, water and other substances

4. give your animals food or liquid in any way, or containing any substance, that could cause unnecessary harm

5. administer any substance to your animals which is harmful to their health or welfare

Mutilations

6. carry out any mutilation or intervention on your animals, unless the action is classed as a ‘permitted procedure’ (many of these have conditions attached, including the need to be reasonably justified and be a measure of ‘last resort’):

• any permitted procedure must be carried out in hygienic conditions, in a manner to minimise pain and suffering, and according to good practice
• any castration or tail docking must be carried out by a person over the age of 18 years, or 17 years if under formal instruction
• detailed guidance is supplied in the Codes of Practice issued by Scottish Government for the relevant species or type of stock (a summary is provided in Annex 1)

Breeding procedures

SMR 13 Annex 1 - Bovine animals

Procedure	Purpose	Condition
Freeze branding	Identification
Tattooing	Identification
Ear tagging	Identification or sampling for disease
Micro chipping	Identification
Vasectomy	Controlling reproduction or general animal management	Veterinary surgeon only
Castration	Controlling reproduction or general animal management	Rubber rings without anaesthetic can only be applied in the first week of life Calves above two months old can only be castrated by a veterinary surgeon using anaesthetic
Spaying	Controlling reproduction or general animal management	Veterinary surgeon only
Embryo transfer	Controlling reproduction or general animal management	Anaesthetic required. Must be done by a veterinary surgeon or a member of an approved team acting under a veterinary surgeon
Nose ringing	Handler safety or herd welfare
Dehorning	Handler safety or herd welfare	Must use anaesthetic
Disbudding	Handler safety or herd welfare	Chemical cauterisation can only be used in first week of life but does not need an anaesthetic. All other disbudding requires an anaesthetic
Supernumerary teat removal	Animal health	In calves older than three months, this must be done by a veterinary surgeon using anaesthetic

SMR 13 Annex 1 - Sheep

Procedure	Purpose	Condition
Tattooing	Identification
Ear tagging	Identification or sampling for disease
Ear notching	Identification
Micro chipping	Identification
Vasectomy	Controlling reproduction or general animal management	Veterinary surgeon only
Castration	Controlling reproduction or general animal management	Rubber rings without anaesthetic can only be applied in the first week of life Lambs above three months old can only be castrated by a veterinary surgeon using anaesthetic Only a veterinary surgeon can carry out surgical (knife) castration of lambs
Spaying	Controlling reproduction or general animal management	Veterinary surgeon only
Embryo transfer	Controlling reproduction or general animal management	Veterinary surgeon only
Dehorning	Handler safety or flock welfare	Only by a veterinary surgeon, except the trimming of insensitive horn from one which is ingrowing
Disbudding	Handler safety or flock welfare	Veterinary surgeon only
Docking	Animal health	Sufficient tail must be retained to cover the vulva in the case of female sheep and the anus in the case of male sheep Rubber rings without anaesthetic can only be applied in the first week of life Lambs above three months old can only be docked by a veterinary surgeon using anaesthetic Only a veterinary surgeon can carry out surgical (knife) docking. Using a hot iron is not considered surgical docking

SMR 13 Annex 1 - Goats

Procedure	Purpose	Condition
Tattooing	Identification
Ear tagging	Identification or sampling for disease
Ear notching	Identification
Micro chipping	Identification
Vasectomy	Controlling reproduction or general animal management	Veterinary surgeon only
Castration	Controlling reproduction or general animal management	Rubber rings without anaesthetic can only be applied in the first week of life Only a veterinary surgeon can castrate kids over the age of two months
Spaying	Controlling reproduction or general animal management	Veterinary surgeon only
Embryo transfer	Controlling reproduction or general animal management	Veterinary surgeon only
Dehorning	Handler safety or herd welfare	Only by a veterinary surgeon, except the trimming of insensitive horn from one which is ingrowing
Disbudding	Handler safety or herd welfare	Veterinary surgeon only

SMR 13 Annex 1 - Pigs

Procedure	Purpose	Condition
Tattooing	Identification
Ear tagging	Identification or sampling for disease
Ear notching	Identification
Micro chipping	Identification
Tattooing	Identification
Vasectomy	Controlling reproduction or general animal management	Veterinary surgeon only
Spaying	Controlling reproduction or general animal management	Veterinary surgeon only
Castration	Controlling reproduction or general animal management	May only be performed by means which do not involve the tearing of tissues If castration is carried out after the seventh day of life it shall only be performed under anaesthetic and additional prolonged analgesia and by a veterinary surgeon
Embryo transfer	Controlling reproduction or general animal management	Veterinary surgeon only
Tusk trimming	Handler safety or herd welfare
Docking	Handler safety or herd welfare	May only be performed (a) after other measures to improve environmental conditions or management systems have been taken in order to prevent tail biting but there is still evidence of injury to the tails of other pigs (b) the procedure is performed by the quick and complete severance of the part of the tail to be removed If docking is carried out after the seventh day of life it shall only be performed under anaesthetic and additional prolonged analgesia by a veterinary surgeon
Uniform reduction of the corner teeth	Herd welfare	May only be performed where (a) the pig is less then eight days old (b) other measures to improve environmental conditions or management systems have been taken in order to prevent tail biting but there is still evidence of injury to sows’ teats or to the ears or tails of other pigs (c) the reduction is performed by grinding or clipping leaving an intact smooth surface
Nose ringing	General animal management	May only be performed on a pig which is not intended to be kept continuously in an indoor husbandry system

SMR 13 Annex 1 - Birds

Procedure	Purpose	Condition
Micro chipping	Identification
Beak trimming	Flock welfare
De-snooding	General animal management
Cutting of the toes	General animal management
Dubbing	General animal management
Pinioning	General animal management
Wing tagging	Identification of – poultry in connection with breeding or testing for the presence of disease or a bird other than poultry in connection with conservation or research
Web tagging	Identification of – poultry in connection with breeding or testing for the presence of disease or a bird other than poultry in connection with conservation or research
Laparoscopy	General animal management
Implantation of a subcutaneous contraceptive into a bird other than poultry	Controlling reproduction or general animal management, as part of a conservation programme
Castration, ovidectomy and vasectomy of a bird other than poultry	Controlling reproduction or general animal management, as part of a conservation programme

SMR 13 Annex 1 - Horses

Procedure	Purpose	Condition
Freeze branding	Identification
Hot branding	Identification	May only be performed subject to, and in accordance with, any authorisation granted or determined by the Scottish Ministers under regulations 4 and 5 (SSI 2007/256 (The Prohibited Procedures on Protected Animals (Exemptions) (Scotland) Regulations 2007))
Tattooing	Identification
Micro chipping	Identification
Vasectomy	Controlling reproduction or general animal management	Veterinary surgeon only
Castration	Controlling reproduction or general animal management	Veterinary surgeon only
Spaying	Controlling reproduction or general animal management	Veterinary surgeon only
Embryo transfer	Controlling reproduction or general animal management	Veterinary surgeon only

SMR 13 Annex 1 - Deer

Procedure	Purpose	Condition
Tattooing	Identification
Ear tagging	Identification or sampling for disease
Ear notching	Identification
Micro chipping	Identification
Vasectomy	Controlling reproduction or general animal management	Veterinary surgeon only
Castration	Controlling reproduction or general animal management	Veterinary surgeon only
Spaying	Controlling reproduction or general animal management	Veterinary surgeon only
Embryo transfer	Controlling reproduction or general animal management	May only be performed where – (a) the deer is a farmed deer (b) the velvet is frayed and the greater part of it shed
Antler removal	Handler safety or herd welfare	Veterinary surgeon only

SMR 13 Annex 1 – Any other type of animal

Procedure	Purpose	Condition
Micro chipping	Identification
Tattooing	Identification
Vasectomy	Controlling reproduction	Veterinary surgeon only
Castration	Controlling reproduction	Veterinary surgeon only
Spaying	Controlling reproduction	Veterinary surgeon only
Embryo transfer	Controlling reproduction	Veterinary surgeon only

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