What a Veterinary Certificate will say

The Fitness of Livestock for Transport (for slaughter) Veterinary Declaration will detail the following: • the slaughter premises name and location; • the animal owner/person in charge and their contact details; • the animal’s identification, species, breed, sex and age; • a description of the condition for which the certificate is issued.

A highlighted box contains the Destination and Transport Conditions which note that “the animal must only be transported to the nearest slaughter premises”. There are tick boxes entitled: Direct to slaughter premises; Last on/first off; Lower deck; Alone in a pen; Reduced pen density; With herd mates; and Other.

The next part of the form contains the details of the certifying veterinarian and whether or not they’d like feedback on the welfare status of the animal when it arrives.

The date the animal was examined is recorded and importantly, the Date of Expiry of the certificate is entered, with the form noting “Valid for up to 7 days after Date of Examination.”

At the bottom, the owner/person in charge of the animal signs a declaration that they will comply with the instructions on the certificate, advise the transport operator of the transport requirements, and ensure the animal will be transported before the expiry date of the certificate.

There are three copies of each form, one for you to keep, one to send with the animal on the truck, and the third is for the issuing vet.

The Veterinary Council website contains anonymised complaint outcomes, one of which details the investigation of a situation concerning a Veterinary Declaration: