Associated Livestock Marts

Secretary of Associated Livestock Marts (ALM) Eric Driver said: “ALM’s position on the extension of electronic tagging to all sheep has not changed. We will support its introduction but continue to feel let down by the industry in that it will not be a level playing field. The mart trade inserts a level of stability in the factory trade. The requirement for lambs presented at marts to be double tagged puts this at risk and is something we will continue to challenge.

“Marts trading under the ALM banner will make their own decision on if they are going to act as a central point of recording (CPR) but as a whole we are supporting it. The technology will take time to bed in but when it does, I personally feel there will be benefits for farmers in reduced labour reading tags. The Department needs to work closely with marts in overcoming any challenges to ensure we can continue to offer the best service to our customers.”

Meat Industry Ireland

Joe Ryan (pictured left) of Meat Industry Ireland (MII), the trade association within Ibec representing the sheepmeat processing sector, said: “The implementation of electronic tagging from 1 June 2019 represents an important milestone in underpinning our national traceability system and putting the sheep sector on a sound footing for the future, in particular as regards safeguarding current customer accounts and securing new international market access for Irish sheepmeat.

“MII members are implementing the necessary infrastructure, hardware, software and operational changes to be ready to operate as a CPR from 1 June.

“It is important to stress that any sheep delivered to a processing plant after 1 June must be electronically identified in line with the Department of Agriculture guidelines. If sheep arrive with old conventional tags (non-electronic), plants will be unable to process these sheep.”

ICOS Marts

ICOS Livestock and Environmental Services executive Ray Doyle (left) said: “The extension of full EID tagging has generated both a positive and negative response from our members. ICOS has always championed the undoubted benefits that EID will bring for the mart sector and this will be no different when bovine EID is introduced with additional benefits in terms of the health and safety of operators.

“It is very disappointing, however, that the Department has betrayed our support and despite numerous meetings is planning to distort free trade by the requirement to double-tag lambs traded in marts.

“We would like to thank the minister and his Department for agreeing to increase its support package to allow more marts to be in a position to act as a CPR. There is, however, a very tight timeframe for marts to get the necessary equipment and software in place by 1 June. Marts have to ensure 100% accuracy when reading tags and therefore want to have a robust plan in place before rolling it out.

“There will be some marts it will not suit in terms of labour and cost but we are encouraging as many of our members as possible to act as a CPR.”