This is a subscriber-only article
ICSA sheep chair Sean McNamara has demanded that the provision of electronic tag identification (EID) readers should be mandatory for all factories and marts.
From 1 June, it will be compulsory for sheep farmers to tag stock moving off their farms via EID, but the provision of readers will remain optional for factories and marts.
McNamara has said that it is unacceptable for sheep farmers to bear the burden of EID alone.
“Sheep farmers have had to invest in EID tags since last October, so the least we should expect is for factories and marts to be held accountable for reading the tags,” he said.
June deadline
“I have met with Minister Creed on this issue and was assured that 100% of EID tags will be read after the June deadline.
“However, if it was never compulsory for marts and factories to install EID readers and it’s still not compulsory for them to do so, it remains to be seen if this will happen.”
He added that as EID had been promised to ease the burden of paperwork that a digital printout would be made available to farmers when the system was in place.
McNamara made the case that unless all factories and marts installed EID readers, “there can be absolutely no justification for farmers to continue to purchase EID tags and farmers should be reimbursed”.
SHARING OPTIONS: