Farmers call for old tolerances on animal tagging to be reinstated

Farmer groups are aggrieved with stringent new regulations governing the inspection of animals, notably the fines for cattle whose tags have fallen off.

ICMSA president John Comer has called upon the department to reintroduce the 3% tolerance for non-compliance on tagging. He argues that the absence of tolerance in the new inspections takes no account of the realities of farm animal behaviour.

Mr Comer said: “Some animals can lose a tag or even two in a day. With the 3% tolerance for inspections, it was acceptable to have three animals lose their tags in a herd of 100.