What do I need to market my animals?

The following needs to be in place in order to market your livestock:

  1. Register for a stock brand.
  2. Link your stock brand to a farm at your local state vet office.
  3. If you already own livestock, brand the livestock with the stock brand registered to your name AND
  4. Tag your livestock with the official ear tags. (In the case of sheep and goats, only a tag displaying your registered brand is required)
  5. Complete the animal registration cards with the ear tag numbers and hand in at your local state veterinary office within 14 days of tagging.
  6. Cattle MUST be registered on the central database in order to be marketed.
  7. If you do not already own livestock, determine where you will buy your livestock from and obtain a movement permit from your local state vet office for the movement of the livestock to your farm. THEN
  8. Brand the livestock with the brand registered to your name. The livestock should already be tagged in order for the seller to be able to sell livestock to you. The tag number remains with the animal for its entire lifetime (like an ID).
  9. Return the movement permit to your local state veterinary office in order for the cattle to be registered to your brand.
  10. Register as a producer at the Livestock and Livestock Products Board of Namibia. You are now set to legally keep and sell your livestock.

PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU CAN ONLY BUY CATTLE EAR TAGS ONCE YOU HAVE A REGISTERED STOCK BRAND AND YOUR STOCK BRAND HAS BEEN LINKED TO A FARM AT YOUR LOCAL STATE VETERINARIAN OFFICE.

Marketing livestock at an abattoir:
  1. Enquire from your local state veterinarian OR directly from NamLITS Online whether livestock were resident on your farm for the minimum period of 40 days.
  2. Contact the agent / auctioneer to which you want to sell your livestock in order to reserve a place.
  3. Make sure all the animals you want to sell are branded and tagged as per regulation.
  4. Obtain a movement permit from your local state veterinary office within 7 days of which you have to move your livestock to the auction. (Please note that movement permits can be post-dated and are only valid for 7 days)
Marketing livestock at an auction:
  1. Enquire from your local state veterinarian OR directly from NamLITS Online whether livestock were resident on your farm for the minimum period of 40 days.
  2. Contact the agent / auctioneer to which you want to sell your livestock in order to reserve a place.
  3. Make sure all the animals you want to sell are branded and tagged as per regulation.
  4. Obtain a movement permit from your local state veterinary office within 7 days of which you have to move your livestock to the auction. (Please note that movement permits can be post-dated and are only valid for 7 days)
Marketing livestock privately:
  1. Make sure all the animals you want to sell are branded and tagged as per regulation.
  2. Obtain a movement permit from your local state veterinary office within 7 days of which you want to sell your livestock. (Please note that movement permits can be post-dated and are only valid for 7 days)
IN ALL INSTANCES, LIVESTOCK MUST BE BRANDED, TAGGED AND REGISTERED ON THE CENTRAL DATABASE IN ORDER TO MARKET.

Farm assured Namibian Meat

Introduction

The Farm Assured Namibian Meat (FAN Meat) Scheme was developed in a collaborative effort between the Livestock and Livestock Products Board of Namibia (MBN) and the Directorate of Veterinary Services (DVS) in an effort to safeguard foreign Namibian meat markets.

The need for livestock traceability and farm assurance in Namibia arose from an outbreak of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or Mad Cow Disease and the linked fatal variant Creutzfeldt - Jakob disease (vCJD) in humans in the United Kingdom from 1986 to 2001. The Namibian Livestock and Meat Industry and DVS acted pre-emptively through the development of an extensive livestock identification and traceability system (NamLITS) which is utilized by the FAN Meat scheme to provide assurance regarding the safety, wholesomeness and quality of Namibian meat. Both the NamLITS system and FAN Meat Scheme were the first in Africa and the FAN Meat Scheme is still the only of its kind in Africa.

Cabinet pronounced the FAN Meat Scheme as a National Scheme and the Livestock and Livestock Products Board is the mandated administrator of the scheme. The Farm Assured Namibian Meat Scheme Logo symbolizes assurance for safety, wholesomeness, quality and traceability of Namibian export meat.

FAN Meat Governance

The FAN Meat Scheme was developed to include all small holder and commercial farming systems.  The rules and standards of the scheme are based on National Legislation combined with Good Agricultural Practice and Animal Welfare principles. 

In order to legally own, keep and sell livestock in Namibia, each such owner or producer of livestock must be issued with an official Stock Brand.  At the same time, such owner or producer of livestock is issued with a FAN Meat number. The stock brand, producer, farm and livestock owned by such producer are linked on the National Database (NamLITS).

The movement of livestock in Namibia is governed by the Directorate of Veterinary Service through a system of movement permits, which is issued from the NamLITS system. In order to market livestock in Namibia, a movement permit must be obtained.  Such permit can only be obtained if there is no restriction on the stock brand or farm of the owner or producer of livestock on the NamLITS database.

On an annual basis, the Directorate of Veterinary Services, which is the competent authority for animal health in Namibia, performs farm and community visits.  During these visits, compliance to National Legislation and FAN Meat Standards are verified. If transgressions are encountered, the stock brand or farm is placed under restriction until such time as the transgression has been rectified.

FAN Meat Value Chain

The FAN Meat Scheme includes Producers at farm level, and non-producers, which are: Livestock Feed Processors, Agents and auctioneers, Transporters and Export Abattoirs.

Non-producers are audited by the FAN Meat Division of the Livestock and Livestock Products Board on an annual basis and annual re-registration is required.

FAN Meat Promise

The Farm Assured Namibian Meat Scheme provides assurance regarding the safety, wholesomeness and traceability of Namibian produced meat.

Meat produced under this scheme, which includes all Namibian Producers, is:

  • Naturally produced;
  • Growth Hormone free;
  • Antibiotic residue free;
  • Carries Negligible risk for Mad Cow Disease;
  • Originates from animals which were humanely treated.
Recognition and use of FAN Meat

The FAN Meat Scheme was developed to provide assurance regarding the safety, wholesomeness and traceability of Namibian produced meat.  The FAN Meat scheme also encompasses good agricultural practices for environmental health and sustainable production together with animal welfare requirements as recommended by the World Organisation of Animal Health (OIE).
The FAN Meat Scheme is presented to markets requiring such assurance for recognition and to prevent duplication of market specific standards and efforts to verify compliance.