EC Electronic Identification puts Rare Breeds at Risk

Rare Breeds Survival Trust is calling on the European Community to let the UK decide for itself about introducing electronic identification (EID) for sheep and goats. At the very least RBST wants the EC to remove the burden of compulsory EID - both for small flock keepers and for those with larger flocks of breeds that are at risk.

This call follows a recent survey by RBST which shows that the proposed EU regulations may endanger the future of the UK's rare sheep and goat breeds.

A survey of RBST livestock members suggested that 56% of respondents expected to abandon keeping sheep and goats within the next three years:

• Almost a third of keepers, 32%, said that the proposed EID was a factor in their intention to disperse their flocks
• A further 34% said increasing bureaucracy underpinned their decision.

If this forecast becomes a reality, many UK breeds of sheep and goat could become critically endangered.

Evidence suggests that EID will have greatest impact on small flock owners who maintain most of the national populations of 'at risk' breeds of sheep and goats. Defra's UK EID Evidence Report states that "The costs are proportionately higher for lowland keepers or keepers of small numbers of sheep".

EC member states with national sheep and goat populations of fewer than 600,000 do not need to comply with the EC regulation and RBST is asking that similar derogation be applied to small flocks with less than 50 breeding females and for those keeping at risk breeds up to 200 breeding females. Said RBST Chairman, Peter Titley "This sensible approach should apply in the UK and throughout other member states. EID is not viable for many of our livestock owners particularly those with small flocks and it is essential that the EC adopts a more flexible approach to ensure that EID does not damage farming generally or, specifically, put our native breeds at risk."

RBST recognises that the aim of the Regulation is to improve the management of disease outbreaks which threaten Europe's sheep and goat breeds. However the effectiveness of EID as a means of disease control remains unclear: Defra's UK EID Evidence Report gives conflicting points of view on the cost and benefit of EID and it also questions its effectiveness by declaring that the "equipment does not perform well in wet and/or cold conditions" Other difficulties arise from the alleged complexity and incompatibility of electronic and computer packages which all make for added problems at a time when the livestock industry already feels besieged.

RBST Chief Executive, Richard Clarke said "The introduction of EID threatens to undermine many years of RBST action to support our native breeds at risk. It will also have a negative impact on the conservation of farm animal genetic resources as envisaged in both the UK National Action Plan and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation's Global Plan."

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