The papers an animal needs to travel

An animal that travels needs papers. Not because officials love paperwork, but because a clean paper trail is what stands between an honest farmer and an accusation of stock theft.

Proof of ownership and identification

South Africa's stock theft laws require that animals being moved can be identified and connected to their lawful owner. Your registered brand or tattoo mark, under the Animal Identification Act, is the anchor: it proves the animals are yours, in the kraal and on paper. When stock moves, a document of identification connecting the animals, the owner and the person transporting them is what a roadblock or stock theft unit will ask to see.

The health declaration

The buyer is entitled to know the health of what they are buying, and neighbouring herds are entitled to protection from disease travelling by truck. A health declaration states the condition of the animals at the time of the move, signed by the person responsible for them.

The veterinary certificate

A vet certificate issued close to the movement date, days rather than months, shows a professional actually looked at these animals recently. A certificate from last season says very little about the truck leaving today.

Why sellers should care most

It is tempting to see papers as the buyer's problem. They are not. The seller without papers is the one who cannot prove the animals were his to sell, and the transporter without papers is the one explaining himself at a roadblock at midnight. Papers protect the honest side.