A licensed finishing unit (LFU) is a type of TB unit which can only be located in the low risk areas of England. A licenced finishing unit (LFU(Wales)) is a type of TB unit, which can only be located in the low TB area in Wales.

An LFU in England and an LFU(Wales) both provide an outlet for the finishing of negative-testing cattle from multiple officially TB free (OTF) herds, where the animals are permanently under movement restrictions and housed under biosecure conditions.

Cattle may be sourced from multiple OTF premises and any area of England, Scotland and Wales.

Cattle moving into an LFU in England and into an LFU(Wales) must be compliant with all statutory pre-movement testing (PRMT) requirements, before they are moved to the unit. Cattle in the unit are exempt from post-movement testing, providing the statutory pre-movement testing requirements have been met.

Whilst LFUs in England and Wales are similar, there are significant differences and separate conditions of approval and guidance for the operation of these units apply. Further information, as follows:

For England

• LFUs were introduced in England to replace Approved Finishing Units (AFUs) in the low risk areas
• Cattle can only move from those units direct to slaughter or via a TB approved slaughter market or gathering in England
• TB testing is not required for cattle in LFUs but APHA have the option to test in exceptional circumstances
• Any cattle moving in from a holding that is subject to annual or more frequent TB testing will require a post movement test if a PRMT has not been carried out in the 60 days before moving into the unit

For Wales

• LFUs(Wales) have been introduced in the low TB area to provide an option for exemption from post-movement testing of cattle moving into a finishing enterprise
• Cattle can only move from those units directly to slaughter or to slaughter via a TB approved slaughter market in England or Wales or via a TB approved slaughter gathering in England
• Cattle in LFUs must be tested every 6 months
• Any animal identified as not receiving a statutory PRMT, when a statutory PRMT is required, in the 60 days before movement into an LFU(Wales), will require additional testing

Please refer to the guidance document (TR429/TR429w) for the full terms and conditions for the approval of an LFU.

Use the manual to understand the rules and conditions that apply to Countryside Stewardship (CS) agreements.

Use the options and supplements, and capital items documents:

• to understand the rules for each option, supplement and capital item
• for advice on carrying out options, supplements and capital items

Use the terms and conditions document to understand the rules of the scheme.

Use the record keeping documents to understand what evidence you need to keep to show you’re meeting scheme requirements.

Use the CS forms to support your agreement.

Overlap of CS options with Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs)

In 2018, you can overlap the following CS options with EFAs declared on your Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) 2018 application:

• AB1 Nectar flower mix
• AB3 Beetle banks
• AB4 Skylark plots
• AB5 Nesting plots for lapwing and stone curlew
• AB6 Enhanced overwinter stubble
• AB8 Flower rich margins and plots
• AB9 Winter bird food
• AB11 Cultivated areas for arable plants
• AB15 Two year sown legume fallow
• AB16 Autumn sown bumblebird mix
• HS2 Take historic and archaeological features out of cultivation
• OP2 Organic wild bird seed mixture
• SW1 4 to 6 metre buffer strip on cultivated land
• SW3 In-field grass strips
• SW4 12 to 24 metre watercourse buffer strips on cultivated land
• SW6 Winter cover crops
• SW12 Making space for water (Higher Tier only)
• WD3 Woodland edges on arable land
• WT2 Buffering in-field ponds and ditches on arable land

Your CS options that share land with BPS claims (known as ‘double funding’) will receive a reduced payment rate. You can find the rate in the page for each listed option, under ‘How much will be paid’, and in the manual (section 3.14).

From 1 January 2019, you will not be able to overlap the 19 CS ‘double funding’ options with EFAs declared for BPS. You can place the options and EFAs in the same land parcel but they cannot overlap.

You can include hedges in both CS options and EFAs without payment deductions.

Revenue claims

The deadline for Natural England to receive late revenue claims and amendments was 10 July 2018. Natural England will not accept any further revenue claims in 2018.

Contact

Contact Natural England to get help with your agreement.

See the main Countryside Stewardship page for information about the scheme.

These indicators on butterflies in the United Kingdom contribute to a suite of indicators due to be updated later this year (the UK Biodiversity Indicators); earlier data availability allows their release ahead of that publication. Two measures of annual butterfly population abundance are presented: the first for specialist butterflies (species strongly associated with semi-natural habitats such as unimproved grassland) and the second for butterflies found in both semi-natural habitats and the wider countryside. The measures are multi-species indices compiled by Butterfly Conservation (BC), the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH), and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) from data collated through the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UK BMS) and the Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey (WCBS).
The indicators use data from butterfly transect sites on farmland and in woodland from the UK BMS and additionally randomly selected farmland plots from the WCBS. Further details of the methods used to compile the indicators and assess change can be found on the UK BMS website. More information about this indicator is available on the JNCC website.