Farmers want clarity on new sheep EID database
Brecon and Radnor NFU Cymru members have expressed concern that the Welsh Government have made commitments to move forward with a bespoke sheep electronic movement reporting service for Wales - without fully explaining the detail of how it is proposed the service will work for Welsh sheep farmers
Of particular concern to farmers at their recent county meeting, was how cross border movements would be dealt with given that the likelihood is that separate databases will be operating in Wales and England.
Glasnant Morgan, Brecon and Radnor NFU Cymru County Chairman said, ’Given the significant movement of sheep back and for between our county and our neighbouring English counties whether through private trading, via market, to abattoir or just movements where farmers have land straddling the border it is imperative that we receive assurances from the Welsh Government that these movements will take place without adding any extra cost or hassle for farmers.
’As farmers we want to make sure that we only need to deal with one point of contact for all our sheep movements and that our statutory reporting requirements remain a free to use service.
We respect that if we choose to use the database to store and record additional management information above and beyond the statutory minimum that this may come at a cost but this cost must be minimal and not inflated as a result of the cost of transferring information back and for between databases operating in different countries.’
Members present at the meeting also expressed concern that the Deputy Minister has indicated that he may reconsider whether the current slaughter derogation operating in Wales is appropriate. Glasnant Morgan said, ’The derogations that we have in place in Wales have helped to significantly reduce the cost and bureaucracy associated with the deeply unpopular Sheep EID regulation.
The electronic reporting service that the Deputy Minister proposes to introduce must be able to handle the entire range of tagging options that we currently have within Wales.’
