Compulsory sheep ID met with criticism

8:32am Thursday 24th April 2008

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PLANS to introduce compulsory electronic identification for sheep have led to fears that many farmers will leave the industry.

The European Commission's legislation, which is expected to take place in 2010, has also met with concerns over cost and practicality.

David Maclean, Penrith and the Border MP, said: "My biggest fear is that this plan will inevitably lead to a significant number of farmers leaving the industry and from what I can understand EID has little to offer farmers in terms of greater efficiency and I would question its value in helping to control disease.

"The system we currently have in place is more than capable of tracing sheep back to their original holding.

"This is further irrelevant control from Brussels which is once again unnecessary.

"What we have already works so why is there a need to change it? The world is short of food but the EU produces more red tape instead."

Under the legislation, all animals born after December 31 next year, would have to be identified with an electronic form of identification, and the movement of each animal would be recorded and reported.