Interim report shares electronic sheep ID experiences in abattoir and on farms

An interim report on the use of equipment for the electronic identification of sheep in Wales has been published by Hybu Cig Cymru and the Welsh Assembly Government prior to the introduction of new Europe-wide regulation on December 31.

Breeding sheep are currently identified through tags inserted in both ears and backed up with paper records. But from the beginning of next year, the UK will have to electronically identify (EID) its sheep. It means that every farm and abattoir in Wales will need to consider introducing new computer readers to record the ear tags of more than nine million sheep and lambs.

The final conclusions of the project on the practicality of EID will be published in October. Meanwhile the interim report reveals that there have been problems with the supply of some equipment to farmers and initial compatibility issues between hand held readers and tags.

"Generally, hand held readers have been reliable and easy to use on farm," said the report. "Race readers have worked well with integrated lamb crates, making lamb weighing and recording much easier.

"Using race readers to quickly read a group of sheep, however, has been disappointing. Unless sheep are stopped next to the reader, then some will not be read.

"Understanding the computer and sheep management programmes has been time consuming and caused considerable farmer frustration. The full benefit from this investment, in both money and time, will not be realised until farmers are familiar with the equipment and its capability.

"It is already apparent on some farms, however, that lambing, medicine and movement recording can be made easier using electronic recording."

However, the difficulties which were experienced with the supply of EID equipment to 14 farms taking part in the study mean that it is too soon within the reporting period to complete a robust evaluation of electronic identification experiences at lambing, and that information from the 2008 lamb crop is incomplete.

The project has identified problems at the abattoir, where sheep will also be expected to be electronically identified.

"To date equipment placed in the abattoir has not given consistent results," said the report. "Some batches achieved a 100 per cent read, whilst others achieved a read rate as low as 50 per cent. This is a technical problem that is still under investigation."

There was also a problem with other electrical equipment in the abattoir, ranging from fluorescent light tubes to heavy-duty motors, causing interference with the computer reading system.

Auctioneers at livestock markets said they had taken no action yet to address the changes coming in next year because they were unsure of the exact requirements. But they all said that they were following developments closely and would take action when they knew exactly what needed to be done.

Auctioneers added that they needed equipment that was 100 per cent reliable, which is not the case at present.

"If all the sheep are not read at an auction, the local authority as the enforcing body will not know which sheep were missed. As a result auctioneers and farmers may be prosecuted," said the report.

"This report presents interim findings only, and until a detailed evaluation of equipment and recording has been undertaken on all farms, no firm conclusions can be reached.

"The reliability of the equipment used in the test abattoir and the issues that are being experienced there will continue to be examined. It is also apparent from the initial auctioneers' survey that livestock markets will need as much support as farmers, if they are to implement the electronic identification rules effectively."

A series of open days and events are planned for farmers and auctioneers throughout the summer, before the final report is published in October.