PrintThe new electronic identification tagging scheme could cost farmers dear - according to sheep farmers who now have to comply with European rules brought in at the beginning of the year.
And Dorset farmer Andy Foot is warning that the new tagging regulations could be the final nail in the coffin for young farmers starting up and for those with smaller farms
But he says that while most farmers were against the tagging scheme it is now about making the best of it and using the electronic data collected from the tags to help more targeted breeding and live weight gain.
Mr Foot, who farms at Buckland Newton, and is chairman of Dorset NFU, sold the last of his flock of Dorset Horns last year, partly because of the new regulations that came in on January 1.
He said: "It was not commercially viable to keep the flock and the tagging regulations were the last nail in the coffin as far as I was concerned.
"It will affect farmers in Somerset and Devon far more than Dorset because that is where the large flocks of sheep are kept on the moorland. We were not in favour of it and it all adds to the costs but we have to make the best of it and turn it to our advantage."
"I represent farmers with land from five acres up to 5,000 acres and it will affect the smaller farmer disproportionately and the extra costs might lead them to wonder whether it is worth doing it."
The new European rules are intended to make it easier to keep a record and find sheep and follow on from a batching scheme where batch numbers of sheep were recorded and introduced following the Foot and Mouth outbreak in 2001 to record sheep movement.
But according to some farmers the identifying of an individual sheep or lamb will make no difference, as if a problem is identified then the whole holding will still be quarantined.
From 2010, all newborn lambs will have to be electronically tagged on top of their standard tag. Sheep intended for slaughter under 12 months of age may be fitted with one tag and this can either be electronic or non-electronic. The tags will help to track the location of sheep and help to control any potential future disease outbreaks.
The new rules will also affect flock records and movement documents which will be phased in over the next two years. Defra will then be able to trace individual animals from their tags and keep track of animal movements. From December 31 keepers have to make individual records of sheep born from this date.
The tags will be electronically read either at point of sale or at the abattoir at the point of slaughter.
John Vigar, who farms at High Ham near Langport, estimates the new regulations will add at least 50p to each sheep across the board.
The Vigar family farm keeps 680 breeding ewes, 150 ewe lambs and at peak times in September and October there can be 1500 animals on the farm
He said: "The trouble is, from a farmer's point of view, I cannot see how it will benefit anyone. If you think you will get something out of it or there is a benefit then that is different. But I cannot see any extra benefit to us as farmers.
"We are still recording batch numbers and it has worked very well. The adding of the electronic tag will put 50p a head extra on the sheep across the board and that will add up to quite a sum for those farmers with a lot of sheep."
Mr Vigar has already ordered his ewe tags which will be done first and from March onwards will be tagging his lambs.
"I have been to a couple of demonstrations and some of these tags and machines are highly sophisticated schemes but it just not practical on an every day farm," he added.
Deputy chairman of Somerset NFU James Small farms 1,000 breeding ewes on top of the Mendips and is a member of the committee that organises the annual Priddy Sheep Fair which has been staged every August since 1348 and attracts entries from all over Somerset and Dorset.
Mr Small said that the principle of the regulations was flawed and in his opinion "not fit for purpose".
"It might be a European directive but it was a suggestion from the British government and now other European countries are finding it not as good as they thought it would be. It will be reviewed in a few years time and I hope it will be revisited," he said.
"The physical ear tagging is not the problem it is the maintaining of the records that is going to be the issue.
"There will have to be a lot of cross referencing and with the markets and producers dealing with three or four systems until everything is electronic there will be multiple headaches."
He added that while the need for lambs offered for sale at Priddy Sheep Fair to be electronically tagged would not affect the numbers being offered for, it would give the auctioneers something to think about.
Greenslade Taylor and Hunt were the first auctioneers in the UK to use the new sheep EID reading equipment at the Sedgemoor Livestock Centre.
Using a stick reader, the tags were read electronically and linked by a wireless network to a handheld tough book. The tough book is also linked through the wireless network into the market's network.
At the Royal Bath and West Society, Alan Lyons, who manages the Royal Bath and West Show, said that as a society they were very conscious that it was going to create a colossal amount of work for sheep farmers who were already facing difficult times.
He said: "As a show it won't really have an affect because we do not code in each individual sheep but record flock numbers. But we know exhibitors who are keeping four or five thousand sheep across a huge area of their land and rented land and it is going to be tricky for them. We are conscious of pressures on our exhibitors on places like Dartmoor, Bodkin and Dartmoor who are hard pressed anyway and are now having to face electronic tagging."
