Farmer offers ear tag loss solution

A FARMER’S practical solution to ear tag loss on cattle sent to the mart is being suggested to the veterinary section of the Department of Agriculture.

When the topic came up for discussion at a meeting of Limerick IFA, James Gleeson, Cappamore, said that Ireland was one of a minority of EU countries where an animal arriving at a mart with one tag is sent home. “It should not be necessary to send the animal home, because they still have one tag for identification and they have the documentation, so there should be no problem with the identity of the animal,” he said.

Currently, cattle losing tags in the course of transport to the sale centre must be returned home unsold.