Farmers urged to move herd records from hard copy to online
Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association rural development chairman John Barron said farmers can eliminate the need to keep their “blue book” animal records updated in hard copy format by registering for the online herd register option on the Department of Agriculture website.
He said farmers who are already registering their calves or notifying farm-to-farm movements online just need to register for this by clicking on a dedicated button, after they have agreed to the terms and conditions.
“If they do this, they will no longer need to update the blue book as well. This will help to reduce the penalties from an inaccurately filled-in blue book at farm inspection time.
“This is a good opportunity for farmers to cut out unnecessary paperwork. Farmers who are not yet online should consider the benefits of it.
“Apart from not having to keep a hard copy herd register, the online registering of calves cuts out a lot of potential clerical errors and it can be used for the suckler cow welfare scheme. There is also the option to print off animal movement certificates for which they previously had to make applications,” he said.
Mr Barron said a lot of valuable information can also be got online such as a complete record of all calves born to each cow over her lifetime. It is also possible to get a list of all animals bought in or sold over any given timeframe, including previous years.
“The department is also planning to gradually phase out animal passports and it is clear that being online will be very beneficial to most farmers.
“While some farmers will be apprehensive about the technology involved, it is actually very straightforward and people who are not very familiar with other computer applications can use it easily enough.
“In many households, other family members have the necessary skills to deal with this,” he said.
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