More technicalities have emerged which will severely disrupt the movement of pedigree livestock from Britain to NI in the new year.

The latest issue surrounds NI livestock taken to a sale in Britain, but that need to return to NI either because they are unsold or purchased by another NI breeder.

“They have to be resident in the country since birth or at least for six months prior to dispatch to the EU, or in this case NI,” a UK government official said during an online briefing on Tuesday.

It means that any NI cattle and sheep that cross the Irish Sea after 1 January 2021 will need to stay there for at least six months.

In practice, NI livestock at pedigree sales in Britain will need to be sold to a buyer based in Britain. The short-term movement of stock for pedigree shows in Britain looks set to stop completely.

The issue stems from NI remaining aligned to certain EU rules after the end of the Brexit transition period, while Britain moves outside the EU’s regulatory zone.

Because of this, local pedigree breeders also face a raft of extra paperwork and requirements when shipping any livestock that are eligible to move from Britain to NI.

Firstly, animals cannot move straight from a mart and must be on the same farm for at least 40 days beforehand.

Export health certificates need to be completed, and sign-off by a vet must be arranged in advance.

Pre-notice also needs to be given on the EU’s platform for animal-based product certification, known as TRACES-NT, and pedigree breeders need to be registered on the new Trade Support Service and have an EORI number for customs declarations.

All these issues remain even if the EU and UK agree a trade deal over the coming days.

Unchanged

For stock moving in the other direction, from NI to Britain, the current process will remain the same after the end of the Brexit transition.

“The requirements are largely unchanged for movements from NI to Britain,” Julian Henderson from DAERA told pedigree breeders earlier this week.

Wriggle room

However, UFU president Victor Chestnutt has suggested there could be wriggle room on the six-month residency issue for moving NI stock from Britain back to NI.

Speaking to members on Tuesday, he said that NI and Britain could potentially be defined as the same country in the export health certificate, but whether this will be allowed in practice remains to be seen.

The EU has already ruled out all proposals which would have resolved the issue for those NI farmers who currently have 7,000 mainly Blackface sheep stuck on Scottish farms.

It is understood that a waiver was proposed which would have allowed the sheep to enter NI next year without being Scrapie-monitored.

“It was raised with the Joint Committee and rejected, and in a letter to the European Commission which was rejected. From 1 January, the current EU Export Health Certificate is the same as it is now, but we will continue to work on this,” DAERA chief vet Robert Huey said during an online briefing.

Edward Adamson from the National Sheep Association told the Irish Farmers Journal there is growing distress among the sheep breeders involved, and it could result in animal welfare problems once the sheep are due to come off winter grazing on Scottish farms.

“Who is going to take responsibility for this? The government did not give us any warning about this before the NI breeders bought the sheep in Scotland during the autumn,” he said.