Vol. 575 No. 5
95 Mr. Boyle asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if it is intended to alter the bureaucracy surrounding registering multiple birth calves and the delay which can often mean that such animals have the required registration to be sold at market. [28749/03]
I am satisfied the current checks in place concerning the registration of multiple birth calves are necessary to support the integrity of the cattle identification system and are not giving rise to inordinate delays in the registration of calf births. The checks comprise additional monitoring where applications are made to register above average levels of multiple births in any herd. They have been in place since the beginning of 2001 and it is noteworthy that the national twinning rate has dropped from 2.7% to 1.9% since the additional measures were introduced.
