Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 June 2012
531 Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he believes the electronic tagging of sheep is operating effectively or will he agree that due to loss of tags, ear splitting (details supplied) is causing undue distress for sheep; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28007/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am satisfied that Ireland has made good progress with the implementation of EID requirements for sheep, in line with EU rules. This has, in fact, already been acknowledged by the EU Food and Veterinary Office. The Deputy will know that we are now moving to implement the final elements of the tagging arrangements for EID in sheep coupled with the appropriate revisions to NSIS. This is the best way of ensuring that we continue to have a robust identification and traceability system in compliance with EU rules and have improved market access for our sheep meat products. The continued co-operation of all stakeholders is important if we are to achieve a successful outcome in the implementation of EID.
The Deputy should be aware that although EID has been a mandatory EU requirement for some years now, there does not appear to be an additional problem, in general, with lost tags as a result of its introduction. This is also the case with regard to sore and infected ears post tagging as long as appropriate practices are observed. These include correct placement of the tag in the ear, tagging at the correct time of year in order to avoid fly strike and also the disinfection of equipment and the sheep's ear prior to tagging each animal. These guidelines are outlined in a booklet that my Department is forwarding to each flock owner.
If a farmer has sheep with infected ears post tagging then he can seek veterinary advice from his own practitioner. If the advice is to remove the tag(s) then the sheep farmer should record the event in his/her farm flock register and retain the removed tags. The affected sheep should be re-identified as soon as possible after the ears have healed — correlating the new tag number to the removed tag number.
Where a farmer's experience of a particular tag type is not to their liking, they are free to use another of the nine approved suppliers.
