Welfare of farmed animals (SMR 13)
This is an old version of the page
Date published: 4 August, 2015
Date superseded: 11 January, 2018
Introduction
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
7. carry out breeding procedures (either natural or artificial) that cause, or are likely to cause, harm to your animals
8. keep animals for farming purposes unless it can be reasonably expected that the normal breed characteristics (genetic and physical) mean that they can be kept without harm to their health and welfare
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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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