Named storms now arrive on the North West coast from late September onwards, and storm losses fallen stock collection is one of the least planned-for parts of farm emergency response. Lightning strike, flooding, collapsed buildings, wind-thrown trees and animals drowned in swollen ditches all produce sudden mortality, often in groups, often on ground a vehicle cannot immediately reach. Martlands is a family-run business in Burscough operating a licensed fallen stock and ABP collection service across the region, and storm weeks are among the busiest in our calendar. This article covers what the regulations require after a weather event, how to record it properly, and how collection works when access is the limiting factor.
The legal duty does not relax because the cause was outside your control. What changes is the practical difficulty of meeting it, and the amount of evidence you will need afterwards.
What the Law Expects After a Weather Event
Under the Animal By-Products (Enforcement) (England) Regulations 2013 the duty of care to have fallen stock collected within twenty-four hours of discovery applies to storm deaths exactly as it does to routine losses. The 2003 prohibition on burial and burning still stands, and a flooded field is not an exception to it. Burying drowned sheep in a corner of a waterlogged pasture is both an offence and a direct pollution risk, because saturated ground carries decomposition products straight into the nearest watercourse.
Where the twenty-four hour window genuinely cannot be met because floodwater or a blocked track prevents access, the answer is to report the deaths, record the obstruction and arrange collection at the earliest point access is restored. A documented delay with a clear reason is defensible. An undocumented one is not.
Categorisation Does Not Change Because the Cause Was Weather
Animals killed by lightning, drowning or building collapse are categorised on the same basis as any other fallen stock. Cattle and sheep are handled as Category 1 material on specified risk material grounds, and fallen cattle over forty-eight months still require BSE sampling regardless of how obvious the cause of death appears. Martlands operates as a DEFRA approved processing and sampling facility, so that testing is carried out as part of the collection under our Category 1 ABP collection licence. Pigs and poultry lost in a storm are handled as Category 2 ABP collection material. If you are unsure which category applies to a mixed group, tell us the species and the circumstances at booking and we will confirm it.
Access Is Usually the Real Problem
Storm response is rarely limited by willingness and almost always by ground conditions. A collection vehicle needs a firm approach and a turning point. After forty millimetres of rain, the track that carried a lorry in August will not carry one in October. Farms that come through storm weeks with the least disruption are the ones that have identified a hard-standing point near the road that stays usable in the worst conditions, and that are prepared to move casualties to it with a tractor and trailer rather than expecting the vehicle to come to the field.
Coastal and low-lying holdings face the additional problem of tidal flooding. Around the Ribble and Alt estuaries and the mosses behind the Sefton coast, standing water can persist for days after the wind drops. Our routes across Merseyside fallen stock collection and the Fylde fallen stock collection area are planned with those conditions in mind, and upland holdings in the Westmorland fallen stock collection area face the opposite problem of wind-blocked fell roads. In both cases the useful conversation happens before the storm, not during it.
Recording Losses for Insurance and for Assurance
Storm mortality often triggers an insurance claim, and insurers ask for independent evidence that the animals existed, died in the stated event and were disposed of lawfully. The Commercial Document issued for each collection provides part of that evidence. It records the category of material, the species and number of animals, the collection date, the vehicle and the receiving premises, and it is issued by a licensed operator rather than compiled by the claimant. Read alongside your holding register and movement records, it is usually the strongest single document in the file.
The same document carries the assurance load. A Red Tractor assessor reviewing a year with an unusual mortality spike will want to see that the spike was recorded, explained and disposed of correctly. Our guidance on preparing for a Red Tractor assurance audit sets out how those records fit together across a full year.
Grouped Losses and Vehicle Capacity
A storm that kills twelve animals is a different collection from one that kills one. Tell us the number and approximate weight when you book, because it determines which vehicle is sent and whether the collection can be combined with others on the route. Our bookings run through the KoLeCt system, which holds that detail against your holding and gives the driver the information before arrival. Getting the numbers right at the point of booking is the single thing that most reduces the risk of a second visit being needed.
Storm Debris and What We Cannot Take
Animal by-products and general storm debris are separate waste streams and cannot travel together. Damaged fencing, broken sheeting, silage plastic and building materials are not animal by-products and must not be loaded with carcasses. Martlands operates a Waste Carrier Licence, CB/QE5406MT, and separate services exist for construction and general waste, but the ABP vehicle collects animal material only. Keeping the streams apart protects the integrity of the Commercial Document and the Waste Transfer Note that accompany them.
Planning Before the Season Starts
The practical preparation is short. Identify an all-weather collection point. Confirm the tractor and equipment needed to move a heavy casualty across soft ground. Make sure whoever is likely to find the animals knows the number to ring. Our farm and fallen stock collection service can hold that information against your holding so it does not need repeating during an emergency.
To arrange collection after a storm or to set up an emergency arrangement before the season, call 01704 776977 or go to the contact us page. Same-day collection is available for fallen stock, and as NFSCO members we can process collections through the national scheme where that is how your holding is registered.
