Sheep farmers attending the forthcoming NFU Scotland/NSA Scotland roadshows looking at the controversial EU proposals on sheep movements and electronic identification (EID) will now get an update on progress with Scotland’s own EID pilot.

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European Regulation 21/2004, due to come into force from the end of this year, will make it obligatory for all Scottish sheep keepers to electronically tag sheep born after this date and keep a record of each animal’s individual identity every time they move. In response to the proposals, the Scottish EID pilot - involving farmers, markets and abattoirs – was set up by the Scottish Government in 2008 to find out whether we can achieve accurate, rapid and cost effective sheep traceability by using EID in the Scottish sheep flock.

Information on the EID pilot will be presented by Duncan Todd of SAOS, who manages the pilot, with NFU Scotland Vice-President, Nigel Miller and NSA Scotland Development Officer, George Milne discussing the forthcoming regulations and the concessions secured to date.

NFU Scotland Vice-President Nigel Miller said:

“There has been a lot said and done about changing Europe’s damaging proposals on sheep movements and electronic tagging. The purpose of these meetings is to explain to farmers where we have got to in our negotiations and how, as things stand, the regulation would affect lamb crops born next year and beyond.

“Having SAOS report on the ongoing Scottish EID pilot will also give farmers an insight into how an integrated system involving all parts of the chain could operate. One year into the pilot, the results will show if we are close to a workable, pragmatic system for Scotland.

George Milne, Development Officer for the NSA in Scotland said:

“Amendments to the regulation agreed to date will make the implementation of new regulations on sheep movements and EID slightly easier on sheep farmers, but stops short of overcoming the real issues of on farm management and recording of breeding sheep.

“I would urge all Scottish sheep producers to make the effort to come along to one of these meetings. It will give them an appreciation of where we are in our attempts to change this regulation, and it will give NFUS and NSA Scotland a steer on where farmers want us to focus our efforts in the coming weeks and months.”

The roadshow meetings are as follows:

Date	Venue	Time
Monday 24 August	Thainstone Mart, Ring 2	7.30pm
Thursday 27 August	UA Agricultural Centre, Stirling	7.30pm
Friday 28 August	Dewars Centre, Perth	12.00 noon
Friday 28 August	Oban Market	7.00pm
Monday 31 August	Urr Valley Hotel, Castle Douglas	7.30pm
Tuesday 1 September	Buccleuch Arms Hotel, St Boswells	7.30pm
Wednesday 2 September	Lanark Market	7.30pm
Thursday 3 September	Kingsmill Hotel, Inverness	7.30pm
Friday 4 September	Quoybrae Mart, Thurso	1.30pm or at conclusion of the ram sale

Details on the Scottish sheep EID pilot can be found at: www.scoteid.com

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