Sheep and goat inspections
Date published: 21 February, 2023
For recent changes to this guidance, please see the bottom of the page.
Table of Contents
- Why do we inspect sheep and goats?
- What our inspectors do
- Cross Compliance
- Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme
- Further information
- Recent changes
- Previous versions
- Download guidance
Why do we inspect sheep and goats?
The Scottish Government (through RPID) carries out sheep and goat identification inspections to make sure that keepers of sheep and goats are complying with animal identification and traceability, and (where applicable) voluntary coupled support scheme requirements as set out in Domestic and EU legislation (as implemented under Assimilated Law).
Every year, we must carry out inspections on:
- three per cent of holdings with sheep and goats and
- five per cent of the Scottish sheep and goat population
- three per cent of Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme claimants
- five per cent of Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme claimed animals
The main purpose of the inspection is to check you are complying with the sheep and goat keeper requirements so that we can monitor and trace the sheep and goat population if there is a serious disease outbreak.
What our inspectors do
The inspector will compare your sheep and goat records to the information supplied to the Scottish Animal Movement Unit 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 make sure the sheep have been tagged correctly and the identifiers are included in the records.
The five key requirements of identification and traceability legislation are:
- your animals have been tagged and recorded correctly
- you are registered with the Animal and Plant Health Association to keep sheep and goats
- all records are complete and up-to-date
- you have correctly completed and retained movement documents
- you have notified sheep and goat movements to the Scottish Animal Movement Unit and ScotEID
Cross Compliance
Sheep and goat inspections are a part of the Cross Compliance inspections programme and designed to ensure the highest standards in Scottish agriculture
The Scottish Government is subject to audit scrutiny to ensure that the relevant legislation is being met and taxpayer funded support is being spent correctly.
So, if you fail any part of your inspection, you could be liable for a reduction in any subsidy payments you receive or even legal action.
If you do fail part or all of your inspection, we will refer to this as a breach and any further action will be assessed depending on how serious the breach is.
Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme
If you have applied or plan to apply for the Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme, then it's important that you read the full scheme guidance to understand your obligations.
Further information
More detailed sheep and goat identification and traceability guidance is available from the main Scottish Government website.
Sheep and goat identification and traceability guidance for keepers in Scotland
The following documents are used by RPID inspectors and offer some help and guidance on what you can expect when inspections take place.
Recent changes
| Section | Change |
|---|---|
| Why do we inspect sheep and goats? | Percentages for inspection selection updated and format of list changed |
| Further information | Links removed and replaced by documents |
Previous versions
Download guidance
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