---
id: KB-AL-010
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/food-and-beverage/livestock-movements-and-treatments
idioma: en
categoria: sector-alimentacion
subcategoria: ganaderia
audiencia: usuario
nivel: intermedio
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-CS-025, KB-AL-001]
citadoPor: [KB-AL-015, KB-AL-023]
---

# Livestock: movements and treatments

_What you must be able to show for every animal that comes in, goes out or is treated._

**Responde a:** livestock holding register · animal movement documentation · veterinary treatment records · documentary control on a farm

A livestock holding has been recording the same things for years: which animals come in, what goes out, what is treated and with what. The problem is rarely not having it: it lives in a notebook, in the vet's memory and in a drawer of prescriptions, and when someone asks it has to be reconstructed.

## The four things you are asked for

| Front | What you must be able to show | Where it usually fails |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Identification | Which animals are present and since when | Arrivals and departures noted late |
| Movements | Where each intake came from and where each departure went | The movement document stays on paper |
| Treatments | What was administered, to which animal, when and who prescribed it | Noted at the time and never written up |
| Feed | Which feed, from which supplier and which batch | Delivery notes filed with the invoices |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> The third row decides inspections and ages worst. What gets checked is not only that the treatment is recorded: it is that the recording date and the administration date agree, and that the treated animal can be followed through to its departure. A notebook written up in bulk at month end does not evidence that, even if the content is true.

## The hardest and most important point

> [!WARNING]
> A treatment's **withdrawal period** — the time that must pass before that animal or its output can go for consumption — only works if the treated animal is identified and its departure controlled. If treatment is recorded by pen or by batch without knowing exactly which animals received it, that control becomes an estimate. And that is the part that cannot be fixed afterwards.

## How to organise it without changing how you work

1. **Photograph the document at the moment** — Movement document, prescription, feed delivery note. From a phone, in the shed.
2. **The animal or batch as the thread** — Everything hangs off it: arrival, treatment, feed and departure.
3. **Warnings for what expires** — Health scheme tests, certifications, equipment and facility checks.
4. **And the vet supplying from their side** — Let them upload theirs by their link, with no account, instead of sending it by messaging.

## What changes if you sell to industry or a retail chain

**En corto**

- They will ask for consignment traceability and, increasingly, rearing or feeding conditions.
- And audits with a drill: they pick an animal or a batch and ask for its full history.
- That is answered in minutes when linked, and in days when it lives in a notebook.

> [!NOTE]
> Which registers are mandatory, the recording deadlines and what must be retained depend on the species, the region and the certification scheme. **Confirm what applies to you with your vet or your adviser**; this describes how to keep it findable, not what the rules require.

**Can we keep using the notebook?**

As a record yes; what does not hold up is reconstructing at month end what happened on the 3rd.

**What about sheds with no signal?**

Photograph and upload on the way out; what matters is not leaving it for the office.

**Can the vet see the history?**

With scoped access, yes, and it usually shortens consultations a lot.

## Ejemplos

**A holding notes treatments in a notebook and writes them up at month end.**

- Photographs the prescription at the time and links it to the treated animal

→ In an inspection, the recording date matches the administration date and departures can be controlled.

**Movements are noted in a notebook in the shed.**

- Records at the moment, from a phone

→ The data reaches the office legible.

**A treatment is recorded and nobody revisits the withdrawal period.**

- Lets the period warn by itself

→ The count does not depend on remembering.

**An inspection asks about one specific animal.**

- Checks its movement and treatment history

→ You answer from the record.

**The vet's prescription stays on paper.**

- Captures it and attaches it to the animal or batch

→ The paper stops being the only copy.

**Temporary staff arrive and record differently.**

- Uses the same record for everyone

→ The history is consistent.