Confirmation that DAERA has delayed the final switch-over date from “UK” to “XI” prefixed livestock tags is welcome, especially for the many cattle producers who carry a surplus of tags from one year to the next.Rather than a cut-off date of 27 January 2025 for farmers to use up existing tags, that has been extended to 30 June 2025. It should mean the vast majority of farmers can run down their stocks – if the change hadn’t been made, there was the prospect of an unsatisfactory scenario emerging, given the cost of BVD testing is built into the price already paid for these tags.
Confirmation that DAERA has delayed the final switch-over date from “UK” to “XI” prefixed livestock tags is welcome, especially for the many cattle producers who carry a surplus of tags from one year to the next.
Rather than a cut-off date of 27 January 2025 for farmers to use up existing tags, that has been extended to 30 June 2025. It should mean the vast majority of farmers can run down their stocks – if the change hadn’t been made, there was the prospect of an unsatisfactory scenario emerging, given the cost of BVD testing is built into the price already paid for these tags.
Comply
New XI prefix tags have been introduced to comply with EU Animal Health Law and facilitate the continued export of cattle, sheep and goats from NI to the EU. Since 24 June 2024, only XI tags are available to purchase from suppliers.
However, for those cattle farmers who need to buy new stocks, they should only buy what tags they need for the months ahead, as there is the potential for more changes in how cattle are identified in the future. As well as the possible introduction of mandatory electronic identification of cattle, there is also the potential that DNA profiling (genotyping) will begin in 2026, as part of the rollout of the new livestock genetics programme run by Sustainable Ruminant Genetics Ltd.
That will probably mean farmers will have to use a tag in each ear that is capable of taking a tissue sample (for BVD and DNA testing), rather than the current tag set that includes one conventional tag.
As part of the same genetics programme, it is also planned to take a DNA sample from all mature breeding animals in the first year, so that will probably require a third button tag to be inserted into these cattle.
In an ideal world all these changes would be implemented at the same time, but that doesn’t look likely at this stage.
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