The results of an EU-wide survey on electronic identification (EID) in sheep show that 64% of farmers regard EID as an opportunity for sheep farming. However, a similar figure of 62% of respondents have not adopted the technology, with cost of equipment and flock size identified as the main barriers.

The survey was carried out as part of the SheepNet project, an EU network set up to increase sheep productivity and flock profitability by knowledge exchange. The project started off initially with participation from the main EU sheep producing nations, namely Ireland, France, Italy, Romania, Spain and the UK along with another major sheep producing nation, Turkey. It was joined at the latest meeting of members in Sardina, Italy, by delegates from Hungary, Israel and Finland.

Survey size

Some 1,148 surveys were completed, with France collecting the highest number of 489 respondents, followed by Ireland with 350 respondents. The UK and Turkey collected 95 and 92 surveys, respectively, with Spain completing 60, Italy 40, Romania 18 and Hungary four.

A breakdown of the farm profile includes 61% (693) of farms classified as meat production while there were 26% dairy (299), 13% multi-purpose (152) and <1% (four farms) ram holdings. The breakdown in flock size was 6% of farms possessing 49 ewes or fewer, 31% with 50 to 119 ewes, 22% with 200 to 349 ewes, 17% with 350 to 499 ewes, 17% with 500 to 999 ewes and 6% with more than 1,000 ewes.

The larger flocks tended to be sheep dairy farms, as reflected in Figure 1. There were 32% of farms with another enterprise, with beef the dominant system, accounting for 67% of additional enterprises.

Survey results

Some 62% of respondents had no EID equipment. This varied across systems and meat farms had the lowest uptake, with 67% of the 693 respondents having no EID equipment. Of the 152 farms, 84% were classified as possessing multi-purpose ewes with no EID equipment, while 38% of dairy farms had no EID equipment. There were also differences across countries, as detailed in Figure 2. Ireland and Turkey had the lowest uptake, with 88% and 89% of those surveyed having no EID equipment.

Getting back to the overall figure, the most common type of EID equipment was an EID reader and farm management software, with 16% possessing such. This was closely followed by 14% of respondents possessing an EID reader and EID equipment, while 6% had just an EID reader and 3% had EID equipment. Again, the differences between countries can be seen in Figure 2.

EID technology

The most common type of EID reader was the stick reader, with 31% of the 40% respondents with EID readers also possessing an associated software package. Handheld devices allowing data input were not far behind stick readers, with 14% of farmers possessing both.

In terms of equipment, the most common component was an EID weigh crate (61 out of 177 farmers), with meat producing farms possessing these. Combined there were close to 90 farms with a mixture of automatic feeding devices (59) and milk recording equipment (30) linked to EID. As expected, these were present on sheep dairy farms, with these enterprises also the main units possessing farm management software packages.

Main uses of EID

The main use of EID was identified as recording animal movements. This was irrespective of farm enterprise, with the ability to sort sheep into management groups also highlighted as being important to meat- and dairy-focused enterprises. Automatic weighing of animals, recording pedigree information and recording health treatments also featured to a lesser extent.

The main barrier or drawback in investing in equipment was very clearly identified firstly as cost and then flock size. The response was far greater from meat-producing flocks and, if we think back to the beginning, these tended to be the flocks with fewer numbers. This is also reflected in Figure 3 ,which shows the level of equipment according to flock size.

Age was not considered to be a major barrier to adoption of EID technology at farm level in farmers aged 18 to 60, with just over 60% of farmers not possessing EID technology in the age brackets of 18 to 30; 31 to 45; and 46 to 60. There was a higher tendency for farmers aged over 60 not to possess EID, with 73% of farmers in this category.

Relevance to Ireland

Some of the countries with more EID said this could be partially due to compulsory EID identification being in place for all sheep, while others pointed to grants of up to 80% of the cost of investment for young trained farmers as helping to justify the investment. Cost continues to be the greatest barrier, with farmers having difficulty in justifying the expense. This is most apparent in smaller flocks, which is likely to be the case in Ireland with upwards of 60% of flocks recording fewer than 100 sheep in their annual sheep census.

For farmers who are interested, there is grant aid (40% and 60% for young trained farmers) under TAMS II with an EID tag reader and software costed at €710 while a PDA EID tag reader and software has a reference cost of €1,820. The minimum investment for a TAMS II application is €2,000 excluding VAT, meaning EID will need to be teamed up with other items.