The introduction of mandatory electronic tagging from 1 June 2019 will have a significant effect on costs borne by hill sheep farmers.

Speaking at the recent Lambing Live event held on UCD Lyons Farm, TJ Gormley of Cormac Tagging said that the sales value of three hill store lambs would purchase 500 tags in 2018, while it would take 13 to 15 hill store lambs to pay for 500 EID tags in 2019.

Performance

He said that there is a value to be gained through using EID technology to record performance but highlighted that unless there is a direct market benefit or continued support package, such farms would be left facing significantly higher costs.