A dispersal sale is the end of a farming business and usually the end of a family’s connection with a holding, and it is not a moment anybody wants to spend thinking about waste regulations. It is nonetheless the point at which several years of accumulated obligation comes due at once. Martlands provides licensed fallen stock and ABP collection across the North West and works regularly with holdings being cleared, and farm dispersal sale fallen stock questions come up more often than agents expect. Getting them settled early makes the day itself considerably easier.
Who Is Responsible on the Day
The duty to arrange collection of fallen stock sits with the keeper of the animal, and on a sale day the identity of the keeper can change during the afternoon. An animal that dies before the fall of the hammer is the vendor’s responsibility. An animal that dies after being sold but before it leaves the holding is generally the purchaser’s, though the practical arrangement is frequently that the vendor deals with it and settles up afterwards.
What matters is that somebody decides, quickly. The Animal By-Products (Enforcement) (England) Regulations 2013 require collection within twenty-four hours of discovery regardless of who is arguing about the invoice, and an unresolved question about responsibility is not a defence. Agree the position with your agent before sale day and put it in the conditions of sale if there is any doubt.
Casualties on a Sale Day Are More Likely Than Usual
Sale days concentrate risk. Animals are gathered, penned in unfamiliar groupings, handled by people they do not know, exposed to noise and crowds, and then loaded onto vehicles in a short window. Older cows, heavily pregnant animals and anything already carrying a problem are all at elevated risk on that day specifically. A dispersal is also the point at which animals that would never normally be moved are moved.
The sensible preparation is to have a collection arrangement in place before the sale rather than a phone number in a pocket. Our farm and fallen stock collection operates a rapid-response fleet from Burscough with same-day availability, and knowing the sale date in advance lets us plan for it.
Clearing What Is Already on the Holding
The larger job is usually not the sale day itself but the clearance that follows. Holdings being wound up frequently have material that has accumulated over years, and some of it falls squarely within the animal by-products framework. Fallen stock that was never collected, old carcasses in a midden, contaminated bedding from an incident years ago, and stored material in containers nobody has opened recently all need dealing with properly rather than being pushed into a general clearance skip.
This is worth being honest about with whoever is handling the clearance. Material that should have gone through an approved route years ago still has to go through one now, and discovering it at the point of sale is far better than the purchaser discovering it in November. Category 1 material goes through our Category 1 ABP collection route under Animal By-Products Licence No APB/CCN21/373/8002, with Waste Carrier Licence CB/QE5406MT and Site Licence EAWML/100236.
The Records Go With the Holding, Not the Stock
Fallen stock records, Commercial Documents and Waste Transfer Notes form part of the holding’s compliance history and should be retained and handed over or archived deliberately rather than thrown out with everything else in the office. A purchaser taking on a holding will want to know what has happened on it, and an assurance scheme, a lender or a solicitor may ask specific questions about waste and by-product handling during the transaction.
If you are the incoming party rather than the outgoing one, ask for these records and read them. Our guide for fallen stock collection for new and tenant farmers covers what a holding’s arrangements should look like from day one, and it is far easier to set up before you have stock than after.
Scheme Membership and Continuity
Where a holding is a member of the National Fallen Stock Company, that membership and the arrangements attached to it need addressing during the wind-up rather than being left to lapse unnoticed. Our explanation of who is NFSCO sets out what the scheme is and how it operates. We are a member and can take collections through scheme arrangements where a holding is signed up.
Dispersals Across the North of the Region
Dispersal sales are a feature of every part of our service area, but the pattern in the northern uplands is distinct. Across Westmorland fallen stock collection the holdings coming to sale are frequently long-established hill units with decades of accumulated infrastructure, and clearance is a bigger undertaking than a lowland equivalent of the same acreage.
The same is true in the Eden valley and around Appleby fallen stock collection, where distance from a depot has historically made some holdings reluctant to book collections for small quantities and material has consequently built up. We would far rather clear that properly at the end than have anybody feel they have to hide it, and we do not treat a legacy clearance as anything other than a job of work.
Planning It With Us
If you have a sale date, tell us. A dispersal is a predictable piece of work and we can have a vehicle available on the day and set up whatever clearance follows. Call 01704 776977 to discuss it, or get in touch through contact us and we will talk it through with you or with your agent.
