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There has been a major spike in the number of sheep tags currently being ordered. Speaking at Thursday's Irish Grassland Association sheep conference and farm walk, Liam Egan from Mullinahone Co-op says the company has recorded steady growth in tag orders since the end of April, with a surge of orders in the last week.
The spike in orders comes ahead of the introduction of mandatory electronic identification of all sheep from 1 June 2019. Liam says that more farmers are aware of the sheep tag subsidy scheme on offer from the Department of Agriculture, with a high percentage of orders for 100 tags.
Subsidy
This includes a subsidy of €1 per electronic tag or electronic tag set with a minimum payment of €10 and maximum payment of €100. The subsidy is only available on the first order of tags and the scheme closes on 30 September 2019.
Liam says the company has been working overtime to work through the higher orders and advises farmers to get their orders made in advance of when tags will be required.
This is particularly important given spring lambs are performing better than previous years and may come fit for slaughter sooner than anticipated.
Demand
The demand was apparent at Thursday's event where the company exhibited its range of tags as part of their co-sponsorship of the event with MSD Animal Health.
Farmers do not need to apply for the tag subsidy payment as information will be collected automatically once the order has been made.
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