Record numbers opt for electronic cattle tags

More than one million calves were registered electronically last year, a record switch from the manual ‘blue book’ over to electronic tagging. With electronic tags making up almost 50% of the 2.14m calves registered last year, Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney welcomed the fact that farmers are seeing the benefits of the system.

The Department of Agriculture’s manual on electronic herd register is available on the agriculture.gov.ie website under “Animal Identification and Movement” at “Cattle”. The manual provides detailed instructions on how to register for the Department’s online facilities as well as giving screenshots covering all main AIM facilities.

Mr Coveney said: “The use of AIM to register calves electronically is a unique opportunity for farmers with home computers to use AIM as an electronic herd register. Use of the online electronic herd register reduces paperwork, errors and the risk of financial penalties arising at cross compliance inspections.”