Rare Breeds Survival Trust is calling on the European Community to let the UK decide for itself about introducing electronic identification (EID) for sheep. 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 an announcement made by Farming Minister, Jane Kennedy ( 28/1/09) that farmers in England will not have to tag sheep intended for slaughter before they are 12 months old.
RBST says this new exemption will be of little benefit to the UK’s rare and native sheep breeders who in a survey in 2008 said that the proposed EU regulations may endanger the future of their flocks.
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 could become critically endangered.
In a recent letter responding to RBST’s fears, Ms Kennedy said “we do have concerns about the disproportionate costs and limited benefits of individual recording and EID. We submitted a dossier of evidence to the Commission on the findings of the UK trials on the costs and benefits of EID.
“There is, however, little support for our proposal from other Member States. We do not believe there is any realistic chance of negotiating EID away, or of negotiating further changes beyond those proposed to the annexes of the Regulation between now and the end of next year.”
Yet evidence suggests that EID will have the greatest impact on small flock owners who maintain most of the national populations of ‘at risk‘ breeds of sheep. Defra’s own UK EID Evidence Report states that “The costs are proportionately higher for lowland keepers or keepers of small numbers of sheep”.
Said RBST Vice Chairman Peter Titley “It is essential that the EC adopts a more flexible approach to ensure that EID does not damage farming in general or, specifically, put our native breeds at risk.