Sheep-tagging proposals condemned by rural report

8:00am Thursday 28th August 2008

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THE proposed compulsory electronic tagging of sheep has been condemned as a costly exercise with no benefit to the consumer or industry.

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) and the Scottish Rural Property and Business Association (SRPBA) yesterday published their findings.

They said the European Commission’s demand for electronic identification has the potential to cripple an already struggling sheep sector.

Douglas Chalmers, director of CLA North, said: “The sheep industry in the North is already teetering on the edge of insolvency.

“The cost of implementing the proposed measure is significant and would mean serious economic, environmental and social repercussions reaching far beyond agriculture.”

Luke Borwick, SRPBA chairman, said the regulation would damage an industry already on its knees, without delivering any obvious welfare or efficiency gains.

He said: “Moreover, since the regulation will only be enforced in nations with a national flock of over 600,000 sheep, I fail to see how this will improve traceability across the whole EU.”

The report calls on the European Commission to scrap the proposals altogether or – if considered vital to public health – to fund the scheme in its entirety.

The CLA is collecting signatures against the scheme at regional agricultural shows and on its website at cla.org.uk