€4.25m announced to support move to EID tags by New Year

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The Department of Agriculture has unveiled details of a €4.25m financial support package to assist farmers in the move to mandatory electronic identification (EID) for cattle by the new year.

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue said the money would offset the additional costs on farmers of using the new, hi-tech ear tags from January 2022 onwards.

"Mandatory bovine EID will deliver a substantial improvement in the bovine identification system for farmers, livestock marts, slaughter plants, export assembly centres and veterinarians," he said.

"This initiative aligns with and supports the Food Vision 2030 objective that Ireland will become a world leader in Sustainable Food Systems, enhancing consumer trust in our food systems.

"Further, it will lead to a safer working environment for all stakeholders, with less reliance on manual checking of bovine tag numbers and herd keepers and livestock marts will save time that is currently involved in making amendment applications associated with misreading animals and mismatched passports when cattle are moving off the holding."

From January 1, 2022, new EID tag sets will be white in colour and will be eligible for funding under a tag subvention scheme. The intention is that the scheme will operate over three years, with €2.25m set aside for the first payments scheduled to take place by the end of next year amounting.

How will payments work?

Payments in 2022 will be calculated on the number of new EID tag sets purchased from January 1, 2022, at a rate of €1 per new EID tag set. There is a maximum payment of €100 per farmer over the life of the scheme. No application will be required for the payment.

A Department spokesperson explained the scheme is proportionately weighted in favour of smaller producers. Farmers can only order the number of new tag sets required proportional to the number of breeding females in the herd.

For example, a farmer who purchases 30 new EID tag sets each year will be eligible for a payment of €30 each year of the three years of the scheme. While a farmer who purchases 100 new EID tags in year one of the scheme will be eligible for a payment of €100; however, that person would then no longer be eligible for further payments the next two years.

The move to mandatory bovine EID will be implemented in two stages:

• From January 1, 2022, all approved bovine tag suppliers will be required to supply an EID tag with all new tag orders. Each new tag set will include one EID tag and one tissue tag. EID tags will be white in colour. The colour of conventional and tissue tags will remain yellow.
• From July 1, 2022, it shall be a legal requirement for herd keepers to officially identify all newborn calves with a tag set containing an EID ta

g.

The Minister urged herd keepers to use up all existing stocks of tags as only white EID tags will be able to be used to officially identify and register calves born on or after July 1, 2022.