EID trial highlights major issues over technology

The scheme, funded by the Scottish Government, found the technology currently available delivered 96 per cent accuracy raising concerns over the practicalities of complying with the new rules.

The figure was revealed in a report on phase one of the trial, which involved 209 farms, six marts and three abattoirs recording and logging a total of 36,000 sheep movements to a central database.

The pilot concluded electronic reading would take between three and six seconds per animal, with tagging taking around one minute per animal and requiring two people.

With a 96 per cent accuracy, around 1,440 readings were not logged correctly, raising fears farmers could be penalised for non-compliance on such failures once the rules come into force on January 1 next year.

NFU Scotland president, Jim McLaren said: “To a lay person, a 96 percent accuracy rate may appear to be acceptable but it is the four per cent failure rate that calls the whole European requirement into question. 

“Given that those farmers involved in the trial are committed to making EID work, it is highly unlikely that such a level of accuracy would be repeated when rolled out across all of Scotland’s seven million sheep.  

“In Scotland, sheep traditionally move from farm to farm, from farm to market and from farm to abattoir.   If there is a high level of inaccuracy, then it quickly unwinds the credibility of introducing such a system in the first place.”

Phase two of the trials will take place over the coming months and will look at implementation in abattoirs and marts where central control points will be set up to carry out reading and recording.

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