Cattle

Animal health and diseases

All keepers of livestock have a duty of care and are required by law to promote welfare and prevent suffering. You should work with your vet to draw up a written health and welfare plan to show how you prevent, treat or limit disease problems.

Currently under the ‘preparing for sustainable farming’ scheme you can get funding from Scottish Government for ‘interventions’ to work with your vet to improve the health of your animals – for example dealing with liver fluke or other parasites. See ‘Preparing for Sustainable Farming full guidance’ for more details.

Prevention of disease is better than cure. Biosecurity, good housing, nutrition (including the use of diverse swards and access to trees for browsing), reducing stress, managing grazing to break the cycle of parasites – these all contribute to positive health and the absence of disease. 

Avoid ‘routine’ medication of animals wherever possible – test, don’t guess. Use faecal egg counts to test for infection. Treating the whole herd for worms or fluke increases the risk of resistance building up. Also, the dung of animals which have been treated recently is toxic to dung beetles. Up to date advice is available here: Promoting Sustainable Control of Cattle Parasites.

If you are an organic producer you are required to have an animal health and welfare plan. You will be expected not to give your cattle medication prophylactically or routinely but only when there is evidence or evident risk of disease.

You must keep a record of any medication administered to cattle – which animal(s), date, dosage and batch number of medication. You must store medicines in a locked cabinet.

Medicines have withdrawal dates for meat and milk, you cannot sell produce from an animal before the expiry of this period.

If you are an organic producer these withdrawal periods are doubled. More detail on these topics can be found in the Welfare of cattle: code of practice

Notifiable diseases

While these are uncommon, you are required by law to notify APHA if you suspect your livestock have a notifiable disease.

Bovine Viral Diarrhoea

Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) is a significant disease of cattle, both in terms of economic impact and animal welfare. It causes reproductive losses, impaired growth, and calf deaths. Scotland operates a mandatory BVD Eradication Scheme, that is industry-led and supported by legislation.

Keepers of breeding cattle herds in Scotland are required to undertake annual BVD screening.

Keepers of non-breeding herds must test any calves born on their holding before 40 days of age.

Certain cattle originating outside of Scotland are considered low risk for BVD and may enter a breeding herd without requiring a BVD test. This applies to:

• Animals born in the Republic of Ireland on or after 1 January 2013
• Animals born in Northern Ireland on or after 1 March 2013  
• Cattle from English or Welsh herds that have maintained CHeCS BVD accreditation throughout the animals’ lifetime

Otherwise, bought-in animals may require BVD testing, depending on their herd of origin and risk status. Keepers are encouraged to follow appropriate isolation and biosecurity measures until test results are confirmed.

A pregnant animal that is not persistently infected (PI) with BVD virus can still be carrying a PI calf. If the dam was infected with BVD during early pregnancy, the unborn calf will be a PI animal and could cause a significant BVD outbreak once it is born. Any female that is already in-calf when introduced to the herd could pose this risk. New measures introduced from 1 February 2026 require that any calf born on or after that date to a dam that was brought onto the holding while pregnant must be tested for BVD within 40 days of birth, or prior to leaving the holding – whichever occurs sooner.

Guidance is available on the BVD Eradication Scheme pages and on ScotEID.

Fallen cattle reporting and disposal

If one of your animals dies suddenly and for no apparent reason, you must investigate the cause. The first port of call is your vet, who will be able to tell if the cause is a disease which must be notified to the authorities.  Your vet can also tell you if this death is a one-off or if there is a risk to your other animals.  

All producers also have access to analytic and post-mortem facilities through the veterinary surveillance service. More info here: Scottish Government Veterinary Services Programme.

Dead livestock must be disposed of appropriately.  In most of Scotland, they cannot be buried or burnt in the open because of the risk of disease spread through groundwater or air pollution. Fallen stock must be disposed without ‘undue delay’ (usually within 48 hours of death). There are a number of disposal options available.

Some remote areas of Scotland have been granted exception to bury dead animals if other disposal options are not available. For more details of the areas and methods of disposal please see the guidance.

Castration

If you want to castrate your male calves to make future handling easier, there are three permitted methods. Within 7 days of birth you can use a rubber ring to stop blood supply. Within 2 months of birth you can use a burdizzo to crush the spermatic cords. After the age of 2 months castration must be done by a vet and under anaesthetic.

Dehorning or disbudding

If you do not want your cattle to have horns you should intervene early by destroying the horn bud under local anaesthetic with a heated iron before the calf is two months old. Dehorning older animals (for example a bought-in animal) should only be done in exceptional circumstances and for welfare reasons, and generally by a vet.