DATABASE AND BATCH MOVES KEY TO SHEEP ID REGULATIONS

NFU Scotland remains committed to seeking fundamental changes to controversial sheep identification regulations in the future but has recognised that the current focus must be on making the European regulation somehow workable for Scottish sheep farmers when it comes into force in eight weeks time.

EU Regulation 21/2004 will make it obligatory for all Scottish sheep keepers to electronically tag most sheep born after this date and then keep a record of each animal’s individual identity every time they move. In responding to the Scottish Government’s consultation on implementing these rules, the Union has set out two key steps required if Scotland’s sheep industry is to be able to function under the new EU regulation.

The Union believes that a central database to help record movements of all sheep in Scotland is essential. Solutions also need to be found to allow farmers to move sheep within their own businesses, for example to summer and winter grazing land, without triggering the need to record every individual sheep’s electronic ID each time they move.

NFUS President Jim McLaren said:
“Nobody likes this regulation but the unpalatable truth is that we are stuck with it in its current form for next year at least. The justifiable campaign for fundamental change in the future will not go away but we have a matter of weeks left to try and find some kind of workable format for its implementation in Scotland from 1 January 2010.

“We are urging our Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Richard Lochhead, to explore all possible channels to develop the least damaging system of identification and traceability for the industry. The changes relating to the use of critical control points such as markets and abattoirs to record movements on behalf of farmers as well as other flexibility won by Scottish Government and NFUS lobbying in Europe are welcome. However, key to their effectiveness is the development and funding of a central Scottish database. With this in place, the requirement for most farmers to have scanning equipment and an on-farm flock register will disappear.

“However the database is only one of two crucial decisions we need from the Scottish Government. If Scotland’s sheep industry is to be able to function, solutions need to be found to enable movements of sheep within a business to be reported on a batch basis. Under traditional movements to summer grazings or away-winterings, where the ownership of the sheep does not change, any requirements on traceability would be still be met by reporting such moves on a batch basis. The wider flexibility we seek has already been granted by Defra for farmers south of the border and we would hope a similar arrangement will be agreed by the Scottish Government.”

One area of controversy within the detail of the Scottish Government consultation is whether animals under a year old going to slaughter should be electronically tagged. This is something that is not required under European Regulation.

The Union has said in its submission that farmers should be allowed to use the derogation available to send animals to slaughter with a conventional, non-electronic tag. However, the Union recognises that this approach could cause difficulties at markets where some animals destined for abattoirs may be electronically tagged and others not.

If the Scottish Government decides to go beyond the minimum requirement of the regulation and demand that slaughter sheep are electronically tagged, then two conditions must be met if farmers will view it as acceptable. Firstly, rural development funding should be made readily available for the additional costs involved and, secondly, it should only be required where abattoirs have the equipment in place to feed back food chain information – such as carcase conformation and health data – to the farmer.

On this issue, NFUS Vice President Nigel Miller said:
“The debate over the slaughter tag derogation is generating some heat. The only way I could see the Scottish Government justifying gold-plating such an unpopular regulation is if there was support available for farmers to comply and that conditions are attached to ensure some benefit back to producers and the wider food industry.

“The Land Managers Option (LMO) scheme already exists as part of the Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP) to help support some of the costs of the regulation through offering contributions towards the purchase of electronic recording equipment. Through the successful efforts of the Scottish Government and industry lobbying, scanning and movement recording can take place at markets and abattoirs so the requirement for scanners on farm is reduced. Therefore, this LMO could be amended to take account of other costs of implementation that go beyond the minimum standards of the regulation, such as electronic slaughter tags, should Scottish Government choose to go down this route.

“It is only with this kind of support, as well as an assurance that farmers would be able to get back useful information from abattoirs on their animals, that the use of electronic slaughter tags would be acceptable to many of those on the ground.”