Appendix for Animal welfare (SMR 13)

Applicable from 01/01/2013

The general rule is that you should not carry out mutilations and interventions on your animals - procedures which involve interference with the sensitive tissues or bone structure of the animal, other than for the purpose of its medical treatment. However, some procedures may be justified because of the overall welfare benefit that they provide; these are known as "permitted procedures". These are listed in Table 1 below. Some of the permitted procedures have conditions attached and these are listed in Table 2.

Permitted procedures must also be carried out:

• in such a way as to minimise the pain and suffering it causes to the animal;
• in hygienic conditions;
• in accordance with good practice;
• by a veterinary surgeon or other person who is legally allowed to carry out the relevant procedure, is experienced in carrying it out and has been trained in line with the appropriate laws.¹

Table 1: All procedures on farmed animals which are allowed in England ("permitted procedures")

Species	Permitted procedures which do not have special requirements attached	Permitted procedures with special requirements attached (see Table 2)
Cattle	Ear clipping	Castration
	Ear notching	Embryo collection or transfer, by a surgical method
	Ear tagging	Ovum transplantation, including ovum collection, by a surgical method
	Freeze branding	Vasectomy
	Micro-chipping	Dehorning
	Tattooing	Disbudding
	Other methods of identification involving a mutilation required by law	Removal of supernumerary teats (at age 3 months and over)
	Nose ringing
	Removal of supernumerary teats (at age under 3 months)
Pigs	Ear clipping	Castration
	Ear notching	Vasectomy
	Ear tagging	Nose ringing
	Micro-chipping	Tail docking
	Tattooing	Tooth reduction
	Other methods of identification involving a mutilation required by law	Tusk trimming
Birds	None of the procedures listed below, apart from beak trimming, may be performed on; conventionally reared meat chickens²; or a laying hen, or a chick that is intended to become a laying hen, which is kept on an establishment with 350 or more such birds.
	Micro-chipping	Beak trimming of poultry
		Neck tagging
		Web notching
		Web tagging
		Wing tagging
	Other methods of identification involving a mutilation required by law	Desnooding of turkeys
	De-toeing of domestic fowl and turkeys (under 3 days)	De-toeing of domestic fowl and turkeys (at age 3 days and over)
	Dubbing of domestic fowl (under 3 days)	Dubbing of domestic fowl (at age 3 days and over)
		Laparoscopy
Sheep	Ear clipping	Castration
	Ear notching	Vasectomy
	Ear tagging	Dehorning
	Micro-chipping	Tail docking
	Tattooing
	Other methods of identification involving a mutilation required by law
	Disbudding
	Removal of the insensitive tip of the horn
Goats	Ear clipping	Castration
	Ear notching	Vasectomy
	Ear tagging	Dehorning
	Micro-chipping
	Tattooing
	Other methods of identification involving a mutilation required by law
	Disbudding
	Removal of the insensitive tip of the horn
Horses	Freeze branding	Castration
	Hot branding	Vasectomy
	Micro-chipping
	Tattooing
	Other methods of identification involving a mutilation required by law
Deer	Ear clipping	Castration
	Ear notching	Vasectomy
	Ear tagging	Antler removal
	Micro-chipping
	Tattooing
	Other methods of identification involving a mutilation required by law
Dogs	Removal of the dew claw
Other species	Ear clipping	Castration
	Ear notching	Vasectomy
	Tagging
	Micro-chipping
	Tattooing
	Other methods of identification involving a mutilation required by law

Table 2: Conditions attached to certain permitted procedures

Procedure	Age of animal at which procedure may be carried out	Anaesthetic requirement for procedure at specified age	Other conditions
Cattle
Castration: carried out by means of a rubber ring or other device to constrict the flow of blood to the scrotum	7 days or under	Not required
Castration: carried out by means other than a rubber ring or other device to constrict the flow of blood to the scrotum	Under 2 months	Not required
	2 months or over	Required
Embryo collection or transfer, by a surgical method	Any age	Required
Ovum transplantation, including ovum collection, by a surgical method	Any age	Required
Vasectomy	Any age	Required
Dehorning	Any age	Required
Disbudding: carried out by chemical cauterisation	7 days or under	Not required
Disbudding: carried out by a method other than chemical cauterisation	6 months or under	Required
Removal of supernumerary teats	3 months or over	Required
Pigs
Castration	Under 7 days	Not required	The method does not involve tearing of the tissues
	7 days or over	Required	i The method does not involve tearing of the tissues ii Must be carried out by a veterinary surgeon iii. Additional prolonged analgesia must be given.
Vasectomy	Any age	Required
Nose ringing	Any age	Not required	The pig must not be kept continuously in an indoor husbandry system
Tail docking	Under 7 days	Not required	i. Other measures to improve environmental conditions or management systems have first been taken to prevent tail biting but there is still evidence to show that injuries to pigs' tails by biting has occurred ii. The method involves quick and complete severance of the tail
	7 days or over	Required	i. Other measures to improve environmental conditions or management systems have first been taken to prevent tail biting but there is still evidence to show that injuries to pigs' tails by biting has occurred   ii. Must be carried out by a veterinary surgeon iii. The method involves quick and complete severance of the tail iiii. Additional prolonged analgesia must be given
Tooth reduction	7 days or under	Not required	i. Method must consist only of the uniform reduction of corner teeth by means of grinding or clipping ii. An intact, smooth surface is left iii. Other measures to improve environmental conditions or management systems have been taken in order to prevent tail biting and other vices but there is still evidence that injuries to sows' teats or other pigs' ears or tails by biting has occurred
Tusk trimming	Any age	Not required	May only be carried out where there is evidence to show it is necessary to prevent injury to other animals or for safety reasons
Birds
Beak trimming of poultry ("poultry" includes laying hens - and chicks intended to become laying hens - which are kept on establishments where there are less than 350 such birds)	Any age	Not required	i. It is performed using a suitable instrument ii. It is performed either: on both the lower and upper beaks and not more than one third of each is removed, or on the upper beak only and not more than one third is removed. iii. Any subsequent haemorrhage from the beak is arrested by cauterisation.
Beak trimming of laying hens - and chicks intended to become laying hens - which are kept on establishments where there are 350 or more such birds	Under 10 days (unless where the procedure is carried out in an emergency in order to control an outbreak of feather pecking or cannibalism)	Not required	i. It is performed using a suitable instrument ii. it is performed using infra-red technology (unless where the procedure is carried out in an emergency in order to control an outbreak of feather pecking or cannibalism) iii. it is performed either: on both the lower and upper beaks and not more than one third of each is removed, or on the upper beak only and not more than one third is removed iv. any subsequent haemorrhage from the beak is arrested by cauterisation v. may only be carried out in order to prevent feather pecking or cannibalism vi. may only be carried out by a person who has been provided with suitable and sufficient information, instruction and training so that they are qualified to perform the procedure
Beak trimming of conventionally reared meat chickens	Under 10 days	Not required	i. It is performed using a suitable instrument ii. it is performed either: a. on both the lower and upper beaks and not more than one third of each is removed, or b. on the upper beak only and not more than one third is removed iii. any subsequent haemorrhage from the beak is arrested by cauterisation iv. may only be carried out in order to prevent feather pecking and cannibalism v. may only be carried out by a person who has been provided with suitable and sufficient information, instruction and training so that they are qualified to perform the procedure vi. may only be carried out following a consultation and on the advice of a veterinarian.
Neck tagging of farmed ducks	3 days or under	Not required	To be carried out only for the purposes of a breed improvement programme
Web notching of farmed ducks	3 days or under	Not required	To be carried out only for the purposes of a breed improvement programme
Web tagging of farmed birds	Any age	Not required	To be carried out only for the purposes of breed improvement programmes or testing for the presence of disease
Wing tagging of farmed bird	Any age	Not required	To be carried out only for the purposes of breed improvement programmes or testing for the presence of disease
Desnooding of turkeys	21 days or under	Not required	To be carried out either by manual pinching-out or with a suitable instrument.
De-toeing of domestic fowl and turkeys	3 days or over	Required	To be carried out only if considered necessary by a veterinary surgeon
Dubbing of domestic fowl	3 days or over	Required	It shall be carried out only if considered necessary by a veterinary surgeon
Laparoscopy	Any age	Required
Sheep
Castration: carried out by means of a rubber ring or other device to constrict the flow of blood to the scrotum	7 days or under	Not required
Castration: carried out by means other than a rubber ring or other device to constrict the flow of blood to the scrotum	Under 3 months	Not required
	3 months or over	Required
Vasectomy	Any age	Required
Dehorning	Any age	Required
Tail docking: carried out by means of a rubber ring or other device to constrict the flow of blood to the tail	7 days or under	Not required	Sufficient tail is retained to cover the vulva of a female sheep or the anus of a male sheep.
Tail docking: carried out other than by means of a rubber ring or other device to constrict the flow of blood to the tail	Any age	Required	Sufficient tail is retained to cover the vulva of a female sheep or the anus of a male sheep.
Goats
Castration: carried out by means of a rubber ring or other device to constrict the flow of blood to the scrotum	7 days or under	Not required
Castration: carried out by means other than a rubber ring or other device to constrict the flow of blood to the scrotum	Under 2 months	Not required
	2 months or over	Required
Vasectomy	Any age	Required
Dehorning	Any age	Required
Horses
Castration	Any age	Required
Vasectomy	Any age	Required
Deer
Castration	Any age	Required
Vasectomy	Any age	Required
Removal of antlers that are not in velvet	Any age	Not required	i. The deer are farmed deer [or, where they are not farmed deer, are kept on land in the same manner as if they were farmed deer] ii. Only the non-sensitive part of the antler is removed
Other species
Castration	Any age	Required
Vasectomy	Any age	Required

1. It should be noted that the fact that a procedure is a "permitted procedure" under the Mutilations Regulations does not, of itself, mean that it can be carried out by people who are not veterinary surgeons. The Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 prohibits the practice of veterinary surgery by people who are not registered veterinary surgeons or veterinary practitioners. If a procedure falls within the definition of "veterinary surgery" under the Act and it is not covered by one of the exemptions listed in the Act or by an "exemption order" (made by statutory instrument), that procedure may only be performed by those listed on the register of veterinary surgeons or the supplementary veterinary register, regardless of its status under the Mutilations Regulations.
2. “conventionally reared meat chicken” means an animal of the species Gallus gallus that is kept for meat production, other than one—
   (a) that is on a holding with fewer than 500 such animals or with only breeding stocks of such animals;
   (b) in relation to which the term “Extensive indoor (barn reared)”, “Free range”, “Traditional free range” or “Free range – total freedom” can be used within the meaning of point (b), (c), (d) or (e) of Annex V to Commission Regulation (EC) No 543/2008 laying down detailed rules for the application of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 as regards the marketing standards for poultrymeat(a);
   (c) that is organically reared in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 on organic production and labelling of organic products and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91(b);”.