Vol. 542 No. 5
109 Mr. Spring asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the investigation which has been held by his Department into the exceptionally high level of twin births in cows; the outcome of such investigation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25121/01]
Over the last number of years, my Department has monitored the level of twin births to cows. During 2000 and 2001 a number of investigations were conducted where herds with high twinning rates were identified for further investigation. There had been suspicions that the calves in question may have been smuggled into the country from Northern Ireland and improperly identified as Irish animals. However, in the majority of cases investigated, the observed high twinning rates were directly as a result of carelessness by the farmer where he or she admitted registering calves born in the herd as multiple births to one cow rather than as single births to more than one cow. More than sufficient cows were present in these herds, many with no calf registered to them, to account for the total number of calves registered during the calving season. Where necessary, blood sampling for DNA testing was conducted by the farmer in order to determine the true dam of each of the calves in question.
In summary, the results of investigations to date would suggest that the bulk of high twinning levels arose from careless identification of dams rather than deliberate attempts to defraud the system. Aside from this, there are a small number of cases still under investigation where deliberate misidentification is suspected.
With effect from January 2001, enhanced validation procedures were incorporated into the calf birth registration process. Since then, any above average incidence of twinning requires the authorisation of the district veterinary office of my Department prior to registration of the animal. I am satisfied that this procedure provides significant additional reassurance that only valid birth registrations are accepted.
