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The blue passport could soon be a thing of the past, as the Department of Agriculture looks to scope out the possibility of electronic identification (EID) for cattle.
A consultation on the introduction of compulsory EID tagging for cattle is to be launched in autumn of this year according to documents seen by the Irish Farmers Journal.
Among those likely to be involved in the consultation process are farm organisations, mart representative groups, Meat Industry Ireland (MII) which represents factories, and approved tag suppliers.
EID tags
The sales of EID tags have been steadily rising in recent years, as farmers make use of them for robot systems, automatic calf feeding systems and record keeping, among others.
The sheep sector moved to a compulsory EID tagging system last year to improve traceability and assist in the opening of new markets for sheepmeat, including China and the USA.
Beef already has access to these markets, but a move to EID tagging could reduce tag-reading errors and eliminate the need for passports. The Scottish beef industry moved to a compulsory EID system at the beginning of this year.
Cost
However, there will likely be an additional cost for farmers, with EID tags costing approximately €1 more than conventional tags.
While the Department provided a small subsidy of up to €100 on sheep farmers’ first set of EID tags, the ultimate cost of the change, estimated in the region of €2m, has been borne by farmers.
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