I recently looked into this in quite some detail (as I wanted to deliver 2 ram lambs from North Wales to South Lanarkshire - 270 miles).
I got a few good pointers from past posts on here (in particular
this one), googled a bit further to find the actual DEFRA documents, and then called the Animal Transport office in Carlisle (or whatever they are, my local AH office sent me to them) to confirm.
The DEFRA guidance on transporter authorisations is
here, and this also includes the information on who
does not need an authorisation. This includes (quoting from doc above):
- not in the course of business or trade;
- not for hire or reward;
- consisting of a single animal accompanied by a person who has responsibility for its welfare (or two animals accompanied by two people)You can argue what 'the course business or trade' might consist of (if your smallholding is a registered business not making a profit in the course of this particular transaction might not be a bombproof excuse). But the last point about specific animals being accompanied by an equal number of 'carers' should cover you fully if it's just a couple of ewes you want to move - the lady at the Defra office in Carlisle confirmed this to me specifically.