Owning a Pedigree Pig - Register your herd

Pigs can spread dangerous diseases such as Foot and Mouth. In the event of an outbreak Defra and Animal Health must be able to trace the whereabouts of all pig herds.

Before moving a pig to your holding:
• You need a County Parish Holding number (CPH) for the land where the pigs will be kept. The CPH is a 9 digit number.
• To apply for a CPH you need to contact The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) on 0845 603 7777. After your initial call someone from the RPA will call you back with your CPH number.

You can now move the pigs to your holding
• Pig movements must be accompanied by an AMLS2 movement document. The person you are buying the pigs from will be responsible for providing the AMLS2. In the event of a disease outbreak the AMLS2 provides traceability because Defra knows where the pigs are and where they have been .
• You must send the white copy to your Local Authority’s Trading Standards Animal Health department within 3 days of the pigs arriving. You retain the pink copy of the AMLS2 for at least 6 months.

20 day standstill
• Once the pigs arrive on your holding, your holding will be under a standstill. The standstill rules are there to protect against the potential spread of any new outbreak of disease.
• Pigs trigger a 20 day standstill on other pigs when they move onto a holding (but 6 days on any cattle, sheep or goats present). There are exemptions to the standstill if you have a Defra approved isolation facility e.g. for breeding purposes.

Register your herd
• Once the pigs are on your holding you need to register them with Defra through your local AHO within 30 days.
• Herdmarks for pigs are 1 or 2 letters followed by 4 digits For example, A1234 or AB1234. They are different from herdmarks for cattle and sheep.
• The AHO will send you a registration document which will contain your personal details, CPH and herdmark.

Breeds at Risk Register
You must have a herdmark and a CPH for your herd to be listed on the Breeds at Risk Register which will be used to determine herds eligible for special measures such as vaccination in the event of a disease outbreak.

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