[Oopsiboughtasheep]

As a newbie to sheep I am trying to make sure that I am keeping the necessary records for my 4 girls. I have completed the Medicines Book following recent worming, recording what and where I got stuff from and then the details of the specific administration etc. I have also completed my Holding Register and kept animal purchase docs etc. plus returned my Annual Inventory paperwork.

However, someone told me that I also need to keep a record of what feed I give them, where I got it from, batch numbers etc. but I can't see where I should record this. Maybe its here somewhere but I just cant find it.  Can someone point me in the right direction please? I'm only feeding them a handful of sheep nuts each evening to keep them easy to handle/check over plus a bit of hay when it was very frosty (I assume digestive biscuits don't count or else I shall have to put 'TESCO' under the suppliers heading!)

They are only 'mowers' so not for meat but I want to be sure that I record the correct things from the start to avoid a potential muddle later on.
Very many thanks.

[waterbuffalofarmer]

What about filing the receipts of the food you feed them, I don't think digestives should count, just the sheep feed you buy. Are you VAT registered as you could claim back any VAT on the sheep feed. Also what about a computer data base for keeping records of the sheep, who is born to who, etc, etc.

[Foobar]

There is no legal requirement to record what you feed your sheep.  Only medicines are required to be recorded.


You might want to keep a record of your outgoings though.  (there is no VAT on sheep feed)

[Oopsiboughtasheep]

Thank you for your help  Foobar and Waterbuffalofarmer.
I'm not VAT registered so it sounds like I can just forget about the feed records then if not a requirement to make a note of it.

[waterbuffalofarmer]

There is no legal requirement to record what you feed your sheep.  Only medicines are required to be recorded.


You might want to keep a record of your outgoings though.  (there is no VAT on sheep feed)

My bad I have someone who buys it for me and someone who does my accounts, I just do the feeding.

[Crofterloon]

When you buy a sack of feed you will see a ticket sown to the seem at the top.
This has all the info on it.

Got to be honest I do not record any info of this type.

[Fleecewife]

When we had our inspection, the man most definitely wanted to see the feed records, as well as see where it was all stored, separate bins for each species.  We had kept all the sewn in labels from feed sacks, just in a Tupperware box in the feed store, plus all the receipts from the supplier in a file in the house.  I think you only have to keep feed info for 3 years.
Maybe my inspector was overzealous, but I prefer to be prepared.

[mowhaugh]

We have certainly been expected to provide a feeding plan and show all records of what feed we have purchased, and show that it is suitably stored on each inspection.  We got in trouble last time for having a lightbulb in the feed store without an outer cover in case the bulb blew, which was fair enough.

The feeding plan is just a list of groups and quantities, e.g. ewes in first hay field, 2 buckets of ewe rolls etc.  This is expected for welfare reasons, so that if you were ever suddenly incapacitated, someone could carry on feeding them the same rations.

For feed records, I just have a ring binder where I put the paper tickets off the feed, and then the invoice when it comes.  Having the batch number can be invaluable, for instance if you are unlucky enough to buy a batch which has accidentally had highly toxic levels of copper added to it, which not only severely damages your flock, but also all your future breeding plans.  It can happen.

[Oopsiboughtasheep]

Thank you again for more replies and information.
I think I will just make a brief note each time in my Sheepy ring binder then and keep the tickets off the bags. I'd rather do it and not need it than not do it and be asked at an inspection later. I do keep the feed in an enclosed and separate bin from the horse feed and thankfully the lights have protected covers on them. Its useful to know what is looked for at inspections. I am grateful for all the advice.

[beagh-suffolks]

we make our own meal and all the ingredients are grown , dried and crushed on our property...so dont think feed records with batch numbers would work for us...

[shygirl]

we kept a record of batch numbers of the feeds we bought - best practise. we buy from harbros usually and they also record our details incase any feed is recalled.
a simple folder for each species is sufficient IMO.

[Buttermilk]

When we had cattle and milled our home grown feed we had to keep a sample of each batch.  Boxes of little plastic bags of mix ideal mouse attractant.  They had their own fridge to live in to keep the mooses out.

[Badger Nadgers]

There is no legal requirement to record what you feed your sheep.  Only medicines are required to be recorded.
You might want to keep a record of your outgoings though.  (there is no VAT on sheep feed)

Seems a sensible answer.

In the animals are for your own consuption, using already mixed feed and you're not in any schemes then I'd have thought that would suffice.

If not, then techncially I think you could be asked for some evidence at inspection:
https://www.gov.uk/food-safety-farmed-meat-farm-produce-and-animal-feed

Just keep a record of what you've bought from who and when, the expiry on them, and a copy of a typical contents.  Not too onerous and useful for your own planning/finances.

Decent storage is pretty obvious, but the stuff about lights seems a bit over the top. I've got a generator I can ring up to some basic lights I can rig up if needed but it's noisy and needs ventilation.  I use the 24 LED lights from pound shops most of the time.

I'm guessing a lot of people don't bother.

[Llandovery Lass]

If you mix your own feed then you may be inspected under the Feed Regs, if you use medicated feed for any animal, most likely pigs and poultry then the inspection is to ensure that medicated feed stuffs are not mixed up with, nor fed to animals going to slaughter for human consumption.

[Foobar]

Storage of feed yes, I can see they would want to see that.  But yeah, you'd have to be in a "scheme" (cross compliance for single farm payments, or red tractor etc) ...and said scheme would no doubt document what records you would need to be keeping.