GovWire

Your livestock business will usually be allocated one county parish holding (CPH) number from the Rural Payments Agency (RPA).

This covers land and buildings up to 10 miles from the main area you keep livestock that you have registered with the RPA.

You can apply to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) for an additional CPH number to operate land and buildings, within 10 miles, as a separate holding.

This could be because you:

• have new land or buildings
• want to divide your current livestock business into 2 or more smaller holdings

You must meet certain conditions to run your holdings separately.

Conditions you must meet

You must be able to meet the following conditions to make sure your:

• holdings are run separately
• animals are kept apart

This helps to prevent and contain the spread of disease.

Make sure that:

• if your existing CPH is currently under TB restrictions, the new holding will not contain land currently included in the TB-restricted CPH
• the different holdings in your business cover different land with distinct boundaries
• there will be no direct contact between livestock on the different holdings you must prevent nose-to-nose contact
• there will be no indirect contact between livestock through management practices or husbandry there must be separate handling, feed, water management and separate facilities (for example, milking parlours)

You must operate the holdings separately. This means you must:

• keep separate holding registers
• use separate herd or flock marks
• report movements on and off each holding, including movements between them
• minimise movements between the holdings
• follow the standstill rule when moving livestock
• comply with TB pre-movement and post-movement testing requirements if keeping cattle

How to apply

1. Open the form in a PDF reader, such as Acrobat Reader.
2. Download the form and save it to your computer.
3. Complete all questions.
4. Sign and date the form in part E this must be signed by the person named in question 2 in Part A. You can use a digital signature if you send the completed form from the email address youve previously registered with APHA.
5. Save the form again.
6. Attach the completed form to an email and send it with the site plan or map to customer.registration@apha.gov.uk (use application for additional CPH as the subject).

If youre unable to email the form and site plan, you can post them but they may take longer to process.

Post them to:

Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA)

What happens next

APHA may contact you to discuss your application. If APHA approves your application, the RPA will allocate an additional CPH for you.

You will receive a letter to confirm your CPH and your herd or flock marks (poultry do not need a flock mark).

If you need help

Contact APHA if you need help with your application.

Read more information about applying for a CPH number.