Question: We’ve just purchased some land and want to keep a few animals such as pigs and sheep on it. What do I need to do?

We asked experienced smallholder Lorraine Turnbull. Lorraine previously worked as a Skills Co-ordinator for the Rural Business School and won the Best Individual category at the 2014 Cornwall Sustainability Awards. She now lives and writes on a smallholding in France. Her best-selling book, Sustainable Smallholding is available to buy on Amazon, and her YouTube channel (Sustainable Smallholding France ) has loads of smallholding videos.

Lorraine says:

If you intend to keep cattle (including bison or buffalo), deer, sheep, goats, pigs or 50 or more poultry or waterfowl, you will need to obtain a County Parish Holding (CPH) number, a nine digit code mainly used to identify and trace livestock from its original point of origin. You must have a CPH number, or as it’s sometimes known, a Location Code, even if the animals are kept only as pets.

To obtain a CPH number for land in England contact the Rural Payments Agency on 03000 200 301. In Scotland, contact the Scottish Government Rural Payments & Inspections Division (SGRPID) office (www.ruralpayments.org or call 0300 062 5004). Wales and Northern Ireland have separate registrations. For Wales you should use ‘manage my CPH’ on RPW online (www.gov.wales/ruralpayments-wales-rpw-online). For Northern Ireland go to DAERA (www.daera-ni. gov.uk/articles/introduction-identificationregistration-and-movement-animals). You need a CPH to keep most livestock on your smallholding.

To register, you’ll need the location of your land; the postcode, OS grid reference or land parcel reference number, details about your tenure; i.e. are you the owner, tenant, and your planned activities on the land. If you later obtain additional land, it may be included on your CPH number as long as it is within 10 miles of your main holding (5 miles in Scotland).

To read this Q&A feature in full, and read more about keeping livestock on your land, you can buy the Spring issue of The Country Smallholder here.

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