As well as sending out key documents via the postal service, documents for cattle keepers can be accessed via the BCMS section of the Rural Payments Agency website (www.rpa.gov.uk). Following the main link for BCMS gives access to a library of information.
The main part of the screen shows “traffic light” indicators for the CTS Online service and the CTS Web Services. The latter is the name of the BCMS link that is embedded in many of the herd management packages available from UK software companies. If there are any technical problems with these services, the traffic lights will be moved to amber or red until the problems are resolved.
The left hand navigation bar on the main page has an item named “Publications and Guidance”. Clicking on this option shows several links, one of which is for the Cattle Keepers Handbook, which is useful if you don’t have access to the hard copy. If you need to check the current official breed code list, you can do it via these web pages. Most of the documents are in the Adobe Reader (PDF) format. Adobe Reader is a program that allows you to read and search PDF file like an “electronic book”. You can download Adobe Reader for free.