Current UK TSE regulation has led to a method of aging sheep, which costs the UK sheep sector around £25 million a year, the Farmers' Union of Wales has said.
European TSE regulations require the carcase of all sheep deemed to be over 12 months of age to be split and the spinal cord subsequently removed.
In the UK, sheep are defined as 12 months of age following the eruption of the first permanent incisors.
“Estimating age by means of dentition is imprecise and numerous peer reviewed publications have highlighted lengthy variability in the eruption of the permanent incisor teeth in sheep and factors such as breed, feeding regime and weight have previously been cited as affecting the accuracy of estimating age by dentition,” said FUW senior policy officer Dr Hazel Wright.
The FUW would therefore welcome a change to the current interpretation from age determination via incisor eruption to a set calendar date of June 30.
This date has been agreed by other relevant industry stakeholders, such as the National Sheep Association and represents a prudent way forward in the interpretation of TSE regulation.
“In recent meetings with both deputy minister Rebecca Evans and secretary of state, Elizabeth Truss, we highlighted that one advantage of using a set calendar date of June 30, is that the industry has a clear and definite target for aging sheep, which allows producers to plan ahead and manage sheep accordingly.
“We will continue our discussions to ensure moves are made towards changing the current TSE controls in order to facilitate controls which recognise the significant burden of complying with regulations which were inappropriately and hastily borne out of the BSE incident more than 20 years ago,” added Dr Wright.
