The autumn store sales move enormous numbers of cattle around the North of England in a matter of weeks, and bought in cattle fallen stock collection is the unwelcome sequel for a proportion of the buyers. Animals assembled from several holdings, mixed at a market, transported and then housed in a strange building are under about as much pressure as cattle ever face, and pneumonia losses follow within a fortnight. Martlands is a family-run, DEFRA approved business in Burscough providing licensed fallen stock and ABP collection throughout the region, and October and November are when finishing units call us most.
This article covers the losses that follow a store purchase, how they should be recorded when the animal has only just arrived, and what the ABP regulations require from a holding that may not have owned the animal for a fortnight.
Why Newly Bought Cattle Die
Bovine respiratory disease is the principal cause, and the mechanism is well understood. Weaning, mixing, transport and a change of diet suppress immunity at the moment the animal meets a new set of viruses and bacteria. Pasteurella and Mannheimia organisms already present in the airway multiply rapidly, and an animal that looked well in the ring is dead ten days later. Losses cluster between seven and twenty-one days after arrival, which is precisely the period when a buyer is least certain what a group’s normal behaviour looks like.
Other causes follow the same purchase. Undiagnosed conditions bought in with the animal, injuries sustained in transport, and clostridial disease in unvaccinated stock all contribute. On some units the cumulative loss across an autumn’s purchases is the single largest mortality event of the year.
Recording a Death on an Animal You Have Just Bought
The paperwork here is more exacting than for a home-bred animal, because the movement and the death sit close together. The bovine passport must be returned to the British Cattle Movement Service, the holding register must record the arrival and the death, and the disposal must be evidenced. Where the three do not agree, the discrepancy is obvious to anyone reviewing the year.
Every Martlands collection produces a Commercial Document recording the category of material, the species and number of animals, the date, the collecting vehicle and the receiving premises. Read alongside the movement record, it demonstrates that an animal that arrived on your holding left it lawfully. Bookings placed through the KoLeCt system carry a timestamp, which is what shows the twenty-four hour duty under the Animal By-Products (Enforcement) (England) Regulations 2013 was met from the point of discovery.
Category and Testing Requirements
Fallen cattle are handled as Category 1 material on specified risk material and TSE grounds, and our Category 1 ABP collection service operates under Animal By-Products Licence No APB/CCN21/373/8002, with Waste Carrier Licence CB/QE5406MT and Site Licence EAWML/100236. Store cattle are usually well under forty-eight months, so BSE sampling will not normally apply to them, but it does apply to any older animal on the holding and Martlands is a DEFRA approved sampling facility for that purpose. If you are unsure whether an animal falls inside the testing age, give us the date of birth from the passport when you book and we will confirm it.
Biosecurity While the Carcass Is on the Holding
A death from respiratory disease in a newly assembled group is a warning about the rest of the group, and the carcass itself is a disease reservoir until it leaves. Fallen stock awaiting collection must be held where scavengers, birds and other livestock cannot reach it and where fluids cannot enter a drain or watercourse. On a finishing unit that means a covered hard-standing point away from the feed passage and away from the isolation pens, not the corner of the shed the animal died in. Our guidance on how ABP collection supports biosecurity covers the principle in more detail.
Prompt removal is also the least disruptive option operationally. A carcass in a busy building is in the way of every other job for as long as it stays there.
Market Geography and Response Times
Cattle bought at the North West and border sales end up on finishing units spread across a wide area, and the collection requirement follows them. Our routes cover the Cheshire and Lancashire finishing belt, the Yorkshire fringe reached through the West Yorkshire fallen stock collection area, the border ground served from Carlisle fallen stock collection, and the Staffordshire and Shropshire units within reach of the Staffordshire fallen stock collection route. The M6 runs through the middle of most of that geography, which is why a same-day response from Burscough is realistic across a spread of ground that looks improbable on a map.
Post-Mortem Before Collection Where It Will Change Something
Where a group is losing animals rather than losing one animal, a post-mortem examination is worth the delay. Identifying the organism involved changes the treatment protocol for everything else in the shed, and by the third death the cost of not knowing is considerable. Arrange the examination promptly, tell us the animal is being held for it when you book, and we will collect once your vet has finished. Decomposition removes the diagnostic value quickly, so the examination needs to happen the same day wherever possible.
Setting Up Before the Sales Start
Units that buy heavily in the autumn benefit from having the collection arrangement in place before the first load arrives rather than working it out during the first loss. Our farm and fallen stock collection service can hold your holding details, access notes and preferred collection point on file so a booking takes a minute rather than ten.
To arrange collection or set that up before the buying season, call 01704 776977 or use the contact us page. Same-day collection is available and, as NFSCO members, we can handle collections placed through the national scheme.
