The rules on storing farm medicines are short and specific. Here is what the regulations, the HSE and Red Tractor actually require, and which records prove you meet them.
Store farm medicines securely and as the label says. The HSE says to store medicines and needles securely where children cannot get at them. Red Tractor's beef and lamb standard asks for a locked store, storage to the manufacturer's instructions, refrigerated medicines in a container if kept in a domestic fridge, and medicated feed kept separate and labelled. Keep expired medicines apart from in-use stock, put used needles in a dedicated sharps container, and record each disposal. Purchase and treatment records must be kept for at least five years.
Three layers apply. The first is the law, which is mostly about records and safe handling. The second is the label, because every product comes with storage conditions you are expected to follow. The third is Red Tractor, which turns those into measures an assessor can check. If you are not assured, the first two still apply.
The short version is this. Keep medicines locked away, in date, in their original packaging, at the temperature the label gives, away from children and from food, and apart from expired stock. Keep used needles in a dedicated sharps container. Record what you bought, used and got rid of.
None of it is complicated, but it slips when the cupboard is in a shed nobody thinks about. Our Veterinary Medicines Regulations guide covers the wider legal framework, and the Red Tractor audit checklist shows where medicines sit in an inspection.
The Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013 deal mainly with supply, prescribing and records. The keeper provisions I read cover proof of purchase, records and retention. Regulation 17 says the keeper of a food-producing animal must keep proof of purchase of all veterinary medicinal products. Regulation 19 sets what to record on acquisition, administration and disposal. Regulation 20 requires the documentation and records to be kept for at least five years after administration or other disposal. I found no provision telling a keeper how to build or lock a store.
That does not make storage optional. The HSE's veterinary medicines guidance says to store securely all medicines and application equipment such as syringes and needles, where children cannot get at them. It says use of these products is subject to the COSHH Regulations, and that work with veterinary medicines should only be done by competent persons.
In practice, the label is the document that matters for conditions such as temperature and shelf life. Our guide to medicine record retention sets out the five-year rule in full.
The beef and lamb standard, version 5.0 (modified), and the dairy standard use the same wording. Storage sits under B.AM.4, "Veterinary medicines must be stored appropriately". The measures below come from the beef and lamb animal medicines section and the dairy equivalent.
| Clause | What it asks |
|---|---|
| B.AM.4.a | Kept in a locked storage facility or room (dairy adds: not in the same room as the dairy) |
| B.AM.4.b | Stored in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions |
| B.AM.4.c | Medicated feed kept in separate, clearly labelled bulk storage or bags |
| B.AM.4.d | Medicines needing refrigeration, kept in a domestic fridge, are stored in a container |
| B.AM.2.c (Key) | Expired medicines, and open medicines past their in-use shelf life, are not used |
| B.AM.7.a | Expired and unusable medicines awaiting disposal are stored separately from in-use medicines |
| B.AM.7.b | Used needles and blades are stored in a dedicated sharps container pending disposal |
Only the expired-medicine clause is marked Key in the text I read. Other Red Tractor sectors have their own versions, so check the current standard for your scheme rather than relying on my table.
Red Tractor's beef and lamb and dairy standards say a medicine that needs refrigeration and is kept in a domestic fridge must be stored in a container. The standard gives no temperature. The manufacturer's instructions on the label set it, which is what B.AM.4.b requires you to follow.
The beef and lamb and dairy sections I read do not require a temperature log. A government code of practice on responsible use of animal medicines used to advise checking that a fridge stays between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius, but that page was withdrawn on 3 June 2026 and is marked as no longer current, so treat the label as the authority.
My advice is to put a min/max thermometer in the fridge anyway. It costs little, and it answers the question if you ever doubt a vaccine. Keep medicines in a box on their own shelf, away from food and drink. If you suspect a product has been stored wrongly, ask the vet before using it.
Expired medicines are not used, and while they wait for disposal they are kept apart from in-use stock. The same goes for open bottles past their in-use shelf life. Used needles and blades go in a dedicated sharps container until disposal.
Red Tractor says medicines, containers and administration equipment are disposed of through the supplier, a registered waste disposal contractor or local authority. It asks for a disposal record showing the medicine, batch number, quantity, date and route, and treats waste transfer notes or receipts as the evidence. The regulations ask for less: regulation 19 requires a keeper who disposes of a product without treating an animal to record the date, the quantity and how and where it was disposed of.
Take-back is the practical route. Schedule 1 of the regulations says the datasheet for a product submitted for authorisation in Great Britain must set out a requirement to use take-back schemes for unused product and waste. Ask your vet or supplier whether they will take medicines and full sharps containers back, and keep the receipt. I could not find a current GOV.UK page on farm sharps disposal, so confirm the route with the vet.
An assessor can compare the store with what the standard says, then ask for the paper behind it. Red Tractor lists medicine purchase records, medicated feed prescriptions, disposal records and waste transfer notes or receipts as evidence for this part of the standard.
If you want one folder that holds the lot, our Red Tractor records pack guide lays it out, and how long to keep farm records gives the retention periods. If an assessor does find a gap, fixing a Red Tractor non-conformance explains the next steps.
The usual traps are small. A cabinet with the key left in it. An expired bottle left next to in-use stock because it is not worth taking back. A part-used bottle past its in-use shelf life, where nobody wrote the opening date on it. A sharps tub that is full and still in use. A disposal that happened but was never written down.
What I would check first is the expiry dates, because that clause is marked Key. Make it a monthly job, and move anything out of date into a separate, labelled box. Then check the fridge, the sharps tub and the disposal record.
FarmHQ, the farm office app for UK cattle and sheep farms, is in beta. It drafts medicine-book entries from a vet invoice photo, and you confirm each one, so the batch and expiry that Red Tractor asks for are captured when the medicine arrives. It is free to start, and plans are on our pricing page. This is not veterinary or legal advice. For a specific product or situation, ask your vet.
For Red Tractor beef and lamb members, yes: B.AM.4.a asks for medicines to be kept in a locked storage facility or room, and the dairy standard adds that this must not be the dairy room. The regulations I read set no lock rule, but the HSE says to store medicines securely where children cannot get at them.
Red Tractor beef and lamb allows a domestic fridge only if the medicine is stored in a container, and the label sets the temperature. The standard does not forbid it, but I would keep medicines on their own shelf away from food and drink, or use a separate fridge in the farm office.
At least five years after the medicine was administered or otherwise disposed of, under regulation 20 of the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013. Red Tractor asks for purchase records to be kept for 5 years as well, and for them to show the batch number and expiry date.
Keep them separate from in-use stock, then dispose through the supplier, a registered waste disposal contractor or the local authority, as Red Tractor requires. Record the date, quantity, and how and where they were disposed of, and keep any receipt or waste transfer note.
Red Tractor asks for used needles and blades to be stored in a dedicated sharps container pending disposal. The HSE says to store syringes and needles securely where children cannot get at them. Ask your vet whether they will take full sharps containers back for disposal.