Bluetongue movement licences and designated slaughterhouses

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References to 鈥榓nimals鈥� means ruminants (for example, cattle, sheep, goats and deer) and camelids (for example, llamas and alpacas).

The bluetongue restricted zone will be extended to cover all of England on 1 July 2025.

From 1 July 2025

You will not need a licence or pre-movement test to move animals within England.

Until 11:59pm on 30 June 2025

When moving animals from the restricted zone into an unrestricted area of England to:

slaughter, you must download and comply with the conditions of the relevant general licence
another premises, you must apply for a specific licence
market, check the rules for moving animals to market
a show, check the rules for moving animals to a show

General licence	What it is for
EXD634 (E) (PDF, 154 KB, 4 pages)	For movements of animals kept within a restricted zone to a dedicated slaughter market in England or direct to a slaughterhouse in Great Britain for the purpose of immediate slaughter.
EXD639 (E) (PDF, 153 KB, 5 pages)	For the movement of bluetongue susceptible animals into or out of a restricted zone in England for emergency veterinary investigation or treatment and back within 36 hours.

Pre-movement testing

You may be able to聽get free bluetongue testing for your animals for movements into England.聽

If the animals moving from the restricted zone into the unrestricted area of England are non-breeding animals over 60 days old, they do not need pre-movement tests. You cannot get free testing for these animals.

The animals you need to test are:

entire males intended for breeding
females that are pregnant or have unknown pregnancy status
youngstock aged 60 days or younger at the time of the movement 鈥� these animals need a single test before they can be moved, unless they are travelling at foot with the maternal dam - in this case, you can test the maternal dam by鈥痋u003cabbr title="polymerase chain reaction">PCR鈥痑nd ELISA
animals being moved for germinal product collection (ova, semen or embryo)

Samples taken for pre-movement testing are valid for 10 calendar days (that is, 10 days including weekends and public holidays). You must time your sampling so that the samples are valid on the planned move date.

Premises that have any land within the restricted zone or straddle the boundary are classified as being within the zone.

The declaration of the bluetongue restricted zone also imposed a bluetongue Infected Area which applies to the same geographical area as the restricted zone which restricts the movement of animals on and off premises and in or out of the infected area. This licence聽EXD612(E) (GL) is published to overcome legal restrictions that would otherwise prevent movement of animals. This does not remove any obligations to comply with BTV movement restrictions and licences and does not permit the movement of animals out of a restricted zone.

Check your stock for signs of disease before loading.

Pregnant or possibly pregnant females

If you are moving a pregnant cow that was inseminated 6 months or more before the move, you will need a negative serology (ELISA) test as well as a negative聽PCR听迟别蝉迟.

If you are unsure if an animal is pregnant, you must get confirmation from a vet.

If you cannot confirm if the animal is pregnant, you must treat the animal as pregnant and test them before movement.

Germinal products

You must聽apply for a specific licence聽if you want to:

move germinal products from susceptible animals out of the zone
freeze germinal products in the zone - if you operate a germinal product collection centre聽you can apply to be designated

Holdings or animals with a restriction notice

APHA will issue a notice to the keeper or occupier that explains the restrictions that are in place.

You can apply for a specific licence if:

you need to move your animals or germinal products onto and off the premises while these restrictions are in place
there is an urgent welfare need to move animals, including short distance moves out of the restricted zone

If APHA approves a welfare licence, the animals will be placed under restriction. APHA聽may ask you to organise a visit by your private vet, at your cost, to take samples from the animals after they have moved. The samples will be tested free of charge.

Moving animals for emergency veterinary investigation or treatment in England

You should try and get emergency veterinary investigation or treatment for bluetongue susceptible animals without moving them across a聽restricted zone boundary.

If this is not possible, you can use EXD639 (E) (PDF, 153 KB, 5 pages) to move animals for emergency investigation or treatment from a premises:

in a restricted zone to a veterinary surgery in the free area and back within 36 hours
in the free area to a veterinary surgery in a restricted zone and back within 36 hours

The premises and veterinary surgery must be in England and within 10km of a restricted zone border.

Designated slaughterhouses

Slaughterhouses do not need to be designated in England to slaughter animals that originate from a bluetongue restricted zone during the low risk period of vector transmission.

Slaughterhouses in Scotland must be designated to slaughter animals that originate from a bluetongue restricted zone - check the Scottish bluetongue guidance for details.

From 1 July 2025, slaughterhouses in Wales must be designated to slaughter animals that originate from a bluetongue restricted zone - check the Welsh bluetongue guidance for details.

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