Flock tagging better, says IFA
IFA Sheep Committee chairman Laurence Fallon said Agriculture and Food Minister Joe Walsh has a real opportunity to deliver such a system.
Urging him to adopt the proposal, he said Mr Walsh will get strong support for this approach from all major sheep producing countries.
“These negotiations will be a real test for Mr Walsh and he can clearly show his commitment to the Irish sheep sector by adopting a policy based on a flock ID system.”
Mr Fallon said the individually based tagging and registration system imposed by the Department in 2001 has proven to be impractical and unworkable. It had delivered nothing other than additional bureaucracy and red tape for sheep farmers.
“Since 2000, some 6,253 farmers have left sheep production and ewe numbers have fallen by 607,556 head.
“This can be mainly attributed to the imposition of a bureaucratic and difficult individual sheep tagging system because lamb prices during this period have been very strong,” he said.
Mr Fallon said the EU Parliament has rejected EU Commission proposals for individual sheep tagging.
He said Mr Walsh and the Government must honour their are commitment to reviewing the current system of sheep identification prior to changes at EU level.
