While the Welsh Government consulted on changes to livestock identification, registration and movement reporting last year, Ireland’s Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine, Charlie McConalogue announced the decision to introduce mandatory electronic identification (EID) for cattle in August 2021.
As part of the move towards mandatory EID in Ireland, all new cattle tag sets sourced from approved suppliers will contain a white EID tag.
From 1st January 2022, all approved bovine tag suppliers are required to supply an EID tag with all new tag orders. Each new tag set will include one EID tag and one tissue tag.
From 1st July 2022, it will be a legal requirement on herd keepers to officially identify all newborn calves with a tag set containing an EID tag.
In addition, as part of a €4.25 million financial package to assist bovine keepers with the additional cost of the new tags, farmers will receive up to €100 over the life of the scheme which will be calculated using the number of EID tag sets purchased from 1st January 2022 at a rate of €1 per set.
The Welsh Government is expected to publish the outcome of their consultation in spring 2022 and has recommended that farmers in Wales only order enough conventional tags for calves expected this year.
While an update on the introduction of Bovine EID is expected later this year, the FUW hopes that the Welsh Government recognises the additional cost of the new tags as has the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in Ireland.