LAA takes the lead on workable EID
Although the Livestock Auctioneers Association (LAA) has always, and continues to be opposed to EC Regulation 21/2004, it is determined to ensure that it is implemented without jeopardising the fundamental principals of how the sheep industry operates successfully in England and Wales.
"We have stood our ground and fought vigorously on the proposed manual Slaughter Derogation (which says lambs under 12 months going to slaughter don’t have to be electronically tagged), for the past 18 months, because we don’t believe it is suitable for our industry," says LAA executive secretary Chris Dodds.
"EU Commission representatives have stated to us that they share this view and we are now focused with our members on finding workable solutions for the benefit of farmers and the sheep sector as a whole.
"Our members’ willingness to provide Critical Control Points to read electronic tags at marts demonstrates the total commitment of auctioneers to deliver a cost- effective system; it will save individual sheep farmers thousands of pounds and the industry as a whole up to £18 million a year."
Mr Dodds said that many members of the LAA, which represents all 122 livestock marts in England and Wales, were already busy conducting trials to see how best to implement the new rules, which will come into effect in January next year, when all sheep have to be tagged under the EC Regulation.
One market in Frome, Somerset, for example, had a system on trial that was tagging a selected number of sheep every week and running them through the whole marketing procedure, he said.
"This process of testing and fault finding is the only way to deliver a robust system that will cope, particularly with throughputs of up to 15,000 head per day in the large marts like Longtown. Four or five different categories must be sorted and then sold through multiple rings, ending up penned for many individual buyers; some of the key breeding sales will have 20,000 sheep presented."
The LAA estimated that each mart would have to spend between £10,000 and £50,000 on new wireless equipment, layout alterations and in many cases computer software upgrades to install electronic tagging systems before the end of the year, depending on its size and the number of sheep it was handling every week.
Mr Dodds explained that the special "race readers" which were needed cost about £3,500 each and most markets would need two, with bigger ones requiring three or even four. The hand-held "stick readers" that will be used by some marts cost between £300 and £800 each, but their use is more labour intensive.
He was confident all the markets would have the necessary equipment up and running in time, but urged farmers to ensure they had all their sheep electronically tagged by then, because "we will not be able to read tags manually".
Explaining why the LAA had fought against the Slaughter Derogation and was still opposed to its implementation, Mr Dodds said: "EBLEX analysis has shown that some 30% of prime lambs sold in markets go on to non-abattoir holdings.
"It is just not viable for feeders, markets or abattoirs to manually check every individual animal’s batch tag in order to satisfy the regulatory requirements for completion of movement documents and holding registers.
"It is appreciated that a single electronic flock tag will cost approximately 43p more than a simple manual flock tag; however, the benefits to industry in enabling some 30% of the marketplace to remain in business massively outweigh this cost.
"We firmly believe that the electronic tagging of all sheep by January 1 next year is the most cost-effective way to implement this legislation."
