Livestock insurance is one of those things farmers hold for years without using and then need at exactly the moment when nobody has time to think about paperwork. Martlands provides DEFRA approved fallen stock and ABP collection across the North West, and although we are not insurers and cannot advise on cover, we are frequently the party holding the independent record that decides how a claim goes. Fallen stock insurance claims turn on evidence generated at the time, and the single most useful thing a keeper can understand is which of that evidence they control.
Why Contemporaneous Records Carry the Weight
An insurer assessing a livestock claim is trying to establish three things. What died, when, and why. Each of those is straightforward to demonstrate in the first forty-eight hours and progressively harder afterwards, and a claim assembled weeks later from memory and a bank statement rarely satisfies anybody. The animals are gone by then, quite properly, because the law required their removal.
That is the tension at the heart of livestock claims. The regulatory duty to collect within twenty-four hours of discovery, under the Animal By-Products (Enforcement) (England) Regulations 2013, means the primary evidence is removed from the holding before an assessor could realistically attend. So the record made at the point of removal has to stand in its place, and it is worth making it a good one.
The Documents Generated by a Collection
Every Martlands collection produces a Commercial Document. It records what was collected, the species, the date, the collection point and the licensed operator who took it, and where the material is handled as waste a Waste Transfer Note is issued alongside it. These are regulatory documents produced by a third party rather than farm records, which is precisely why an insurer treats them differently to a diary entry.
We explain what these documents contain and why each field is there in our guide to commercial documents explained. Read it once before you need it, because knowing what a Commercial Document does and does not record helps you understand what else you need to capture yourself.
What the Collection Record Does Not Prove
It is worth being straightforward about the limits. A Commercial Document establishes that an animal of a given species was collected from your holding on a given date by a licensed operator. It does not establish the animal’s identity, its value, its condition before death, or the cause of death. Those are yours to evidence, and they are the parts most commonly missing when a claim runs into difficulty.
Identity is the easiest to fix. Record the ear tag number before the animal is collected, every time, without exception. It takes seconds and it is the link between the collection record and your holding register, your medicine records and your movement records. Without it, the strongest documentary chain available to you is broken at the first link.
Veterinary Evidence and Cause of Death
Where the value at stake justifies it, and certainly where several animals are involved, a veterinary examination before removal is the difference between a claim with a cause and a claim with a theory. A vet can carry out a post-mortem examination, take samples, and produce a written report, and none of that prevents the animal being collected afterwards through the ordinary route.
Tell us when you book if a veterinary examination is pending, so the collection is timed around it rather than cutting across it. Our farm and fallen stock collection is used to working around veterinary attendance, and it is far simpler to plan than to unpick.
Photographs, Timings and the Field Record
Photograph the animal where it was found, with enough context to identify the location. Note the time of discovery and the time of the previous inspection, because an insurer will ask and because that interval also matters for the regulatory position. Record the weather, the field, the group the animal was in, and anything unusual in the vicinity, including damaged fencing, disturbed ground, unusual plant material or evidence of a dog.
Where a third party may be responsible, for instance in a dog attack or a road incident, the police reference and any witness details belong in the same file. Third-party claims are decided on the completeness of the record more than on anything else.
Traceability From the First Call
Our bookings run through the KoLeCt system, which gives every collection a reference from the moment the call is logged rather than from the moment the vehicle arrives. That produces a time-stamped record of when you reported the animal, which is useful for demonstrating that you acted promptly both to an insurer and to an assurance assessor. Our explanation of what is KoLeCt covers how the system works in practice.
Where a fallen cow is over forty-eight months of age, BSE testing is required and is carried out here as a DEFRA approved processing and sampling facility. That sampling generates its own record, which occasionally proves useful in establishing what an animal was and when it was handled.
Cover, Schemes and What Else May Be Available
Insurance is not the only financial mechanism that touches fallen stock, and keepers are sometimes unclear about how the collection schemes interact with it. We have set out what exists in our overview of fallen stock collection and subsidy schemes. As a member of the National Fallen Stock Company we can take collections through NFSCO scheme arrangements where a holding is signed up to one.
Across the wider service region, from the Lancashire mosslands to Shropshire fallen stock collection and the Welsh border country, the pattern is consistent. The holdings that recover well from a significant loss are the ones that documented it properly on the day, and our Category 1 ABP collection paperwork forms one part of that.
Talking It Through
If you want to understand exactly what documentation a collection from your holding would generate, ask us before you need it. Call 01704 776977, or get in touch through contact us, and we will explain plainly what we record and what we can provide.
