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Following the EU flock over sheep tagging
The EU has decreed that all sheep will require an electronic ID tag by the beginning of next year. To the public that might not seem so bad – an industry becoming up-to-date, fitting in with the rest of society.
But many farmers, livestock markets – and even some who earn part of their livelihood from supplying the tags – condemn its introduction in five months' time. A battle to delay it is still being fought. The new Farming Minister, Jim Fitzpatrick, went to the Council of Agriculture Ministers in Europe last week with a proposal that EID tags need not be fitted to sheep or goats until they were being moved from their birth farms.
David Airey, NFU chairman for West Yorkshire and a lead negotiator for the sheep farmers, said the idea was good, although not a solution to all the problems posed.
But after a late-night session of the Council of Ministers considered it under Any Other Business, Mr Fitzpatrick reported: "There was not enough support."
The Minister has committed himself to the previous Defra line by saying: "I believe that the costs to the industry of implementing the EID regulations far outweigh the benefits." And he adds, "We are still working with the Commission on proposals which could reduce implementation costs for the UK sheep industry and will continue to work to put in place a practical and workable solution."
The National Sheep Association (NSA) and most other farming bodies still feel they are being made to make the best of a bad job.
David Airey, who farms in the hills in Craven, believes that the development of electronic tagging has another five years to go, at least, before it should be brought in.
"It's another ill-conceived rule and regulation from Europe," he says. "With the cross-compliance rules we have to adhere to, it means that we run the risk of being penalised for not implementing something that we are not properly set up to do. It really needs to be trialled properly first. The technology isn't here as yet.
"Not every farm has a computer, and some farms still don't even have electricity.
"This is all meant to be about traceability. But the cost will lead to more sheep farmers leaving the industry.
"We're told the tags themselves will cost 1 each, and there will be an additional cost for having your sheep read at the livestock market as well.
"Every farm will need an electronic tag reader – and that will cost anywhere between 450-900. Then there's the software required that hasn't even been produced yet.
"Livestock markets are faced with massive costs, too. We are being forced into this – and yet not every country in the EU has to do it. Eleven of the 28 are exempt."
Ted Ogden is the market manager at Skipton Auction Mart, where they have been testing electronic tagging in trials. He believes there are catastrophic implications here. "As a country we are only 72 per cent self-sufficient in sheep meat now. And there's every indication that this will cause sheep farmers to either leave the industry completely or simply keep less.
"We have been trialling equipment on behalf of the LAA (Livestock Auctioneers' Association) but we are all opposed to the idea. Buying equipment for the market alone will cost us over 25,000.
"I understand that the information being gathered by the electronic readers isn't going to be used or stored by the Government. So it is difficult to see what good it could do."
Hill flocks, where sheep farmers largely continue to do things in the traditional way, seem likely to be most affected. Upland methods don't adapt well to new systems that electronic tags bring about. It will be difficult for those farmers with hefted flocks which are moors-based.
Phillip Holden, who runs two farm supply shops in Wensleydale, home to many of Yorkshire's hill flocks, sells the tags that are presently in use. "I'm a provider of tags and I stand to earn from this," he says. "But even the tag manufacturing companies are against this.
"I think this is a terrible state of affairs and has been thrust upon sheep farmers without due consideration. It is another example of European legislation being introduced with no good reason and will prohibit farmers from pursuing sheep farming any longer due to the increased costs.
"Wensleydale's sheep farmers are puzzled at its introduction and the timescale. I don't think the people who make these kind of decisions really understand the complexities.
"My own feeling is that I don't think electronic tagging will start until June or July of next year at the earliest. And to couch this as in any way being about traceability and assisting with biosecurity is complete and utter nonsense."
Traceability has been seen as vital ever since the foot and mouth epidemic of 2001. Being able to locate where a disease problem exists is what tagging is all about, and to many outside farming electronic tagging is a natural extension of that.
Kate Blakeman is one of the sheep vets at Bishopton Veterinary Group based in Ripon, part of the XL Vet group with 41 practices across the UK. "Electronic tagging of animals is not a new concept – it has been done successfully for many years with pets such as cats, dogs and horses," she says.
"Knowing exactly where all our sheep are would also be very helpful in the control and management of disease threats, such as BlueTongue and others. Although electronic tagging in general is a good idea, at 2-3 per sheep – for an item that might fall out and get lost – the cost for our farmers are substantial.
"We would back a sympathetic implementation of the scheme in terms of timescale. This would consider the economics of farmers' businesses in these tricky financial times, and perhaps look at sharing the cost with other parties involved in the food chain."
The UK sheep flock is currently 30 million head. Whether tagging actually happens come January 1, it is the source of rising unrest in a farming sector that otherwise is more buoyant than at any time in the past decade.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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