Latest news on livestock EID proposals - is the majority of the industry "in complete agreement"?

[Tarw Coch]

EID for sheep,a total waste of time for us,just ordered another 1500 tags,not far short of a grand,slaughter and breeding.

Money and resources down the pan.

Would have bought a lovely weekend break to relieve the stress for the wife and me.

Instead creates loads of stress!........and I’m paying for the privilege.

Madness, but I suppose it keeps someone in a job

 

[Formatted]

They said they were doing cattle first and it would be live by Summer 2020, don't hold your breath for 2021

 

[FarmyStu]

EID for sheep,a total waste of time for us,just ordered another 1500 tags,not far short of a grand,slaughter and breeding.

Money and resources down the pan.

Would have bought a lovely weekend break to relieve the stress for the wife and me.

Instead creates loads of stress!........and I’m paying for the privilege.

Surely EID isn't for "you"? Although many farmers do use it very successfully for recording weight gain/drug use etc. Its so that sheep movements can be easily tracked around the country in the event of disease outbreaks. It would benefit you then wouldn't it?

 

[Henarar]

They said they were doing cattle first and it would be live by Summer 2020, don't hold your breath for 2021

Spose sheep will be easier to change as they are EID anyway, makes sense to start with sheep in a way as the sheep system is rubbish, mind I spose they will just make it worse.

The thing you all need to console yourselves with is that all our competitors in far off lands will have to implement the same and incur the same costs if they want to export to us

 

[wr.]

Surely EID isn't for "you"? Although many farmers do use it very successfully for recording weight gain/drug use etc. Its so that sheep movements can be easily tracked around the country in the event of disease outbreaks. It would benefit you then wouldn't it?

Bl**dy Hell! They can't even track people with covid or tell us how many immigrants, terrorists and asylum seekers there are roaming around the country. I suggest they start there and work hard at it.

 

[FarmyStu]

Bl**dy Hell! They can't even track people with covid or tell us how many immigrants, terrorists and asylum seekers there are roaming around the country. I suggest they start there and work hard at it.

People with COVID, immigrants, terrorists and asylum seekers don’t have EIDs. Human rights and all that stuff. Sheep have less rights and can therefore be readily tagged.

 

[Paddington]

Chap I spoke to at ARAMS the other week after spending half an hour on a movement form admitted there were glitches on their system down to their database. Didn't help me, but I felt better knowing it wasn't my fault where the CPH no. and address I was using didn't match up to the one stored in the vaults in Milton Keynes, and you never get as far as the save button. Can any new movement system be based on the eAML2 form used for pigs, much more user friendly ?

 

[Yale]

Surely EID isn't for "you"? Although many farmers do use it very successfully for recording weight gain/drug use etc. Its so that sheep movements can be easily tracked around the country in the event of disease outbreaks. It would benefit you then wouldn't it?

But if the government did their job and didn’t let foot and mouth go then we wouldn’t need blanket EID.

We pay for their incompetence!

 

[FarmyStu]

But if the government did their job and didn’t let foot and mouth go then we wouldn’t need blanket EID.

We pay for their incompetence!

I haven’t spoken to many farmers that don’t accept that some fellow farmers and dealers didn’t exactly help control the spread of F & M, to say the least.

As to the government; they may well have got things wrong, but you can hardly blame them for F & M. But they did bring in EID in an effort to control any future outbreaks. If you think that it’s governments job to control things like F & M, then you have to accept things like EID surely?

 

[Tarw Coch]

I haven’t spoken to many farmers that don’t accept that some fellow farmers and dealers didn’t exactly help control the spread of F & M, to say the least.

As to the government; they may well have got things wrong, but you can hardly blame them for F & M. But they did bring in EID in an effort to control any future outbreaks. If you think that it’s governments job to control things like F & M, then you have to accept things like EID surely?

You don’t need eid for traceability although it way we’ll make the governments job easier at the expense and inconvenience of farmers.

 

[Yale]

I haven’t spoken to many farmers that don’t accept that some fellow farmers and dealers didn’t exactly help control the spread of F & M, to say the least.

As to the government; they may well have got things wrong, but you can hardly blame them for F & M. But they did bring in EID in an effort to control any future outbreaks. If you think that it’s governments job to control things like F & M, then you have to accept things like EID surely?

Did foot and mouth just appear as if by magic?

The only foot and mouth currently in this country is in government labs.

This is where it came from the last twice.

As said we can have batch traceability without EID.

 

[FarmyStu]

Did foot and mouth just appear as if by magic?

The only foot and mouth currently in this country is in government labs.

This is where it came from the last twice.

As said we can have batch traceability without EID.

Oh dear. Good old conspiracy theories....... You have some proof i assume? Obviously the official account that it most probably came in from a FARMER feeding illegally sourced food to pigs doesn't suit the "its all governments fault" narrative.....

How does you non EID batch traceability work 5 farms down the line after a couple of dealer moves through 2 markets?

 

[neilo]

Surely EID isn't for "you"? Although many farmers do use it very successfully for recording weight gain/drug use etc. Its so that sheep movements can be easily tracked around the country in the event of disease outbreaks. It would benefit you then wouldn't it?

EID tags are a great management tool (where they stay in), but that doesn't mean they should be made mandatory across the industry. I would probably continue to use them in my breeding stock, but to suggest they improve traceability is just nonsense thought up by desk jockeys.

Slaughter tags get cut out and binned as soon as the lambs are hung up, sometimes only hours after being put in. If anyone was pinching sheep, or moving them where they shouldn't be, a pair of cheap sidecutters removes all that traceability within seconds.

Simple batch recording of slaughter sheep is all that is required to give just as good traceability as we have now, without the unnecessary extra cost and work.

 

[Treg]

Oh dear. Good old conspiracy theories....... You have some proof i assume? Obviously the official account that it most probably came in from a FARMER feeding illegally sourced food to pigs doesn't suit the "its all governments fault" narrative.....

How does you non EID batch traceability work 5 farms down the line after a couple of dealer moves through 2 markets?

Sorry don't want to be another ganging up on you as you raise some valid points but the last F &M the government completely admits it came from a drain at their laboratory, no if or buts on that one.

 

[FarmyStu]

Sorry don't want to be another ganging up on you as you raise some valid points but the last F &M the government completely admits it came from a drain at their laboratory, no if or buts on that one.

No it doesn't. No ifs or buts on that one. Read this. https://webarchive.nationalarchives...office.gov.uk/fmd/fmd_report/report/index.htm

Perhaps you could point us to the admission?

 

[FarmyStu]

After a bit of research I now realise you're talking about the small (4 farm) outbreak in 2007. Yes, you're right, it came from a research lab.

 

[milkloss]

No it doesn't. No ifs or buts on that one. Read this. https://webarchive.nationalarchives...office.gov.uk/fmd/fmd_report/report/index.htm

Perhaps you could point us to the admission?

And a few years later they get caught letting it run from a drain? Hmmmmmm,

 

[hally]

I have a relation who has done a lot of work for defra and he says the pressure on defra to prevent another outbreak was immense. The guys who devise the rules often don’t have any clue of the logistics of our industry so rely on consultants for this advice, they went to the tag boys ( amongst others) for advice. He says the tag industry was very vocal they had a solution ( especially our friends in the south west) and defra swallowed it hook line and sinker and the rules followed supported by NFU at the time. These consultants often have there own agenda but as an industry we seem very weak in combatting this advice with hard evidence.

 

[Henarar]

And a few years later they get caught letting it run from a drain? Hmmmmmm,

not the first time they had let it out either, Mum went to farm school right near there, the year before she went they had no animals odd that isn't it, them buggers have form

 

[farmerm]

I have always wondered, can I access, view and amend EID numbers on the database assigned to my flock number? I must have dozens or more "ghost sheep" on the database, tag numbers that have come onto my holding as bought in animals but have never registered as having left, either because they have lost the tags and left the holding on double reds or they have been died and been taken for disposal or have disappeared. Since EID came about I could easily have 20% more EID numbers on the database than I have animals on the farm?