Call for sheep industry database

Ten years on from the Foot & Mouth crisis of 2001, he said this week, the industry is no nearer to an effective database than it was then.

The outbreak started in pigs but spread mainly through sheep and tracing it was difficult because of the volume of sheep movements.

Now electronic ID for sheep has been forced on the industry, the auctioneers see an opportunity to get something back from the money they have had to put into it.

Mr Dodds said: “If we were to have another significant disease outbreak, the impact on the sheep industry could be equally as devastating as FMD in 2001.

“Currently, the Animal Movement Licencing System (AMLS) is responsible for information on sheep movements. The system relies on Trading Standards departments and the manual inputting of forms. If there was an outbreak of notifiable disease, all movements would be stopped, nationally, until the AMLS had been completely and accurately populated.

“The independent farming regulation task force report by Richard MacDonald recommended immediate adoption of a single database, commercially and privately operated, to replace the AMLS.

“The time is right... 85 per cent of all sheep movements are through markets and abattoirs and by using electronic data transfer it would be easy to implement an effective database. Already a number of auction marts are trialling a system.

“It should be owned and operated by the industry with the government and other agencies buying information when required.

“Such a database could be developed and run at no additional cost to the industry, leaving it in control of its own destiny and shortening any standstill time enforced during a disease outbreak.”

The LAA is looking for support from the National Sheep Association and NFU.