Tagging debate goes back to EC

THE battle to convince the European Commission that its proposals that all sheep should be double-tagged and records of individual movements should be recorded will continue for many months.

However, there is a growing recognition that the proposals in their present form would be all but impossible to comply with on large-scale farms.

A recent meeting in Brussels staged by the European Association of Marketing Organisations discussed the issue of tagging with senior commission officials. In attendance were representatives of auction companies in England and Wales, Alan Craig of the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers and David Leggat, the president of the Institute of Auctioneers and Appraisers in Scotland.

Leggat said: "It was a useful meeting and I think a better understanding of our approach to traceability was gained by other member states.

"It is a very difficult issue, and while we are very much against the proposals, there are some member states where flock sizes are much smaller [who] claim that they can make the system work.

"However, we were heartened to have the support of France and the Netherlands. We argued that the system we have in place through the Scottish Animal Movement Unit works well and delivers the batch traceability that is necessary to guard against any future disease outbreak."

Leggat added that the concept of SAMU, established by the Scottish Executive’s Environment and Rural Affairs Department following the foot-and-mouth crisis two years ago, attracted much interest at the Brussels meeting.

Even the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in London has now accepted that a double-tagging regime would add considerably to the sheep sector’s costs. Defra estimate is that on a UK-wide basis it would cost an additional 90 million each year.

That figure has emerged from a Defra consultation paper on the implications of the proposed double tagging regime. The breakdown suggests that the bill for the physical tagging process would be 22m, with 49m for on-farm recording and an additional 16.9m for movement recording.

The total could fall to 44m each year if the industry moved to an all-electronic system, but Defra concedes that this would entail a one-off charge of 45m to put the necessary equipment in place.

Based on a UK flock of about 15 million breeding ewes, Scottish producers could potentially face a bill of close on 20m each year since about 25 per cent of the national flock is based north of the Border.

George Milne, development officer for the Scottish area of the National Sheep Association, said: "That sort of charge would be totally unacceptable to the industry. We will continue to fight against this proposal, which is both unworkable and totally unnecessary."

In any event, the timescale for the introduction of the scheme is slipping. Originally 1 July was to have been the implementation date. However, the view in Brussels is that the earliest possible date is 1 January, 2004 and that there are likely to be major changes before then in proposed regulations.

MEANWHILE, the majority of Scottish sheep farmers are, for the second year running, reporting excellent lambing results.

Pre-lambing scanning of ewes indicated a slightly lower lamb crop, but this appears to have been more than compensated for by much lower losses.