Survey to assess electronic tagging impact

Sheep farmers in England, Wales and Scotland are to be surveyed to see how the proposed introduction of electronic identification (EID) and individual recording will influence their intentions to continue keeping sheep.

The survey will be issued by the NFU in partnership with NFU Cymru and NFU Scotland and will be entitled ‘What will you do when the new rules on sheep tagging are introduced?’

NFU livestock board chairman Alistair Mackintosh said: “As a Union, we have stood shoulder to shoulder with our colleagues from across the UK over the past year, fighting to scrap these plans to electronically tag the nation’s sheep flock and individually record all sheep movements.

“I am extremely concerned that the additional costs and recording requirements associated with these new regulations will force many more producers out of the industry and reduce the national flock further. The aim of this survey, therefore, is to gather information on what effect these rules could potentially have on the national flock so we can illustrate the impact to politicians.

“While we will continue to work tirelessly in Europe to bring other Member States and policymakers on side, this survey will give a true picture of how electronic tagging, and the need to record the individual movement of sheep, will be received by farmers.

“We need to be able to tell the politicians and officials what the effect will be on the English sheep flock if the new rules on sheep tagging are introduced. We would urge all our sheep-keeping members to take the time to complete and return the short questionnaire.”

Under the proposed regulations all sheep born in England after January 1 2010 will have to be compulsorily electronically tagged. The individual identities of sheep with an electronic tag will need to be recorded in holding registers from this date and from January 1 2011 all sheep movements will have to be individually recorded.

The questionnaire is available on the NFU website at http://www.nfuonline.com/sheepsurvey.xml copies will also be available at local NFU regional offices.

Notes to Editors:

1. The questionnaire will ask producers what their intentions will be if the new rules are brought in unchanged. The questions include: Will you reduce your sheep numbers? If so, by how much? Would you be prepared to take part in a public demonstration about the new rules?

2. Latest statistics have shown that the English sheep flock has declined by 26.3 per cent over the past ten years and there are presently 6.922 million breeding ewes in England.

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