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Compulsory electronic identification tagging (EID) for sheep will cost an additional €2m and farmers are not prepared to carry the costs, according to the IFA.
Average income from sheep farming was €16,897 last year, and IFA president Joe Healy stated that the low income sector could not afford to carry any additional costs.
Compulsory EID tagging comes into effect from 1 October this year, and has proven a contentious issue since it was announced, with processors and the Minister for Agriculture saying that it will improve traceability and trade potential.
Many farmers have criticised the upcoming tagging policy, with the IFA proposing that at the very least it should not be necessary to extend EID to sheep that go from the farm of origin directly to slaughter.
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