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| Article 15 of the European Union Council Directive 2003/85/EC on community measures for the
control of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) places a responsibility on member states to establish a
list of holdings where animals are kept for the purposes related to the conservation of animals
that are indispensible for the survival of that breed or in other words rare breeds so that they
may benefit from any special measures that may apply at the time of an FMD outbreak. |
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| Defra, DARDNI, SEERAD and WAGEPCD* in association with the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST)
and the British Pig Association(BPA) is compiling such a list for the following species :- |
| Cattle |
| Sheep |
| Pigs | | Goats |
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| Registration on the list is voluntary. It is however, in the owner's or keeper's
own interest to register the premises where breeds at risk are kept to ensure that they can benefit
from any special measures that may apply or come into force for the conservation of breeds at risk
in the event of a future FMD outbreak. |
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| Inclusion on the Breeds at Risk Register means that any special measures prevailing
in the event of an FMD outbreak to conserve breeds at risk could apply to the premises, but does not
guarantee that breeds at risk on the premises would necessarily be spared. The measures would only
apply to breeds at risk animals on the premises and breeds not considered to be at risk would be
treated with the normal procedures that come into force at the time. |
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| The premises where these animals are kept are those that keep registered pedigree
stock of farm animal breeds native to the United Kingdom that are susceptile to FMD. Eligible breeds
are those listed in the UK country report on farm animal genetics resources 2002.
The list can be found in
Breeds List |
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| The premises must be registered in advance to become eligible for any special measures
that may apply in the event of an outbreak of FMD. |
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| Any special provisions would only apply to those premises that hold breeding nuclei
of FMD susceptible animals. The established definition of a breeding nucleus for each breed is
as follows: |
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| Cattle: | Minimum of 8 females plus 1 male or artificial insemination |
| Sheep: | Minimum of 16 females plus 1 male or artificial insemination |
| Pigs: | Minimum of 3 females plus 1 male or artificial insemination |
| Goats: | Minimum of 6 females plus 1 male or artificial insemination |
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| Eligibility criteria: |
| The breed must be listed as being rare in the UK country report. |
| The breed must be native to the UK |
| The animals must be registered with a recognised breed society |
| The premises must have a breeding nucleus equal to or exceeding the minimum
numbers/population above |
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| REGISTRATION PROCESS |
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| (i) Cattle, Sheep and Goat Breeds and British Lop Pigs |
| If you are eligible and wish to register your premises as holding breeds at risk, please
click on the 'Registration Form' button below to complete the online registration form. The RBST can be contacted at : |
