Livestock Auctioneers back cattle EID

10 March 2010 | By Joanne Pugh

The Livestock Auctioneers Association has announced its support for EID in cattle. And while other industry groups are being less vocal on the subject, it would appear such a system is generally viewed quite favourably.

The European Commission was due to publish cattle EID guidelines for member states in November 2009, and industry stakeholder meetings with Defra have been put on hold until those guidelines are made available.

Implementation in some form still looks likely across the EU in 2012, according to NBA director, Kim Hayward. She would like to see voluntary implementation at that stage, giving the industry ‘a year or so’ to adopt the system before making it compulsory.

Following the publication of guidelines, the European Commission would allow member states to implement them in their own way. However, it is pushing for compulsory EID to improve accuracy, increase efficiency and reduce risks associated with manually recording cattle movements.

‘Universal uptake’

LAA chairman Alastair Sneddon supports this, saying there would be ‘real benefits’ for the beef industry if all sectors were to get involved, with ‘universal uptake’ within two to three years.

He says EID could provide a ‘quick and easy alternative’ to the current passport system, with an electronic identifier attached to the animal instead of a bar code in a paper passport.

EID would allow the UK to compete with other countries using the technology to record parentage and performance data to develop better genetic evaluations.

“We believe bovine EID could offer real benefits to the industry here, particularly if combined with enhancements designed to improve the speed and utility of information between BCMS and end users,” says Mr Sneddon.

Ms Haywood says EID could only work if changes are made to BCMS CTS in order for it work as a central database and be compatible with IT systems used at markets and abattoirs. If that was implemented, EID could bring ‘efficiencies right through the supply chain’, she says.

A spokesman for Defra says: “Discussions are at the scoping stage, with no firm commitment or timeline for implementation yet - but further talks are expected later this year.”

Similar talks between the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) and the cattle industry in Northern Ireland are already at an advanced stage.