Livestock farmers who fail to show evidence of them properly maintaining ear tag records in cattle and sheep are likely to be automatically fined from January, NFU Scotland president Nigel Miller has warned.
A Scottish Government clampdown is imminent after UK authorities received a ticking off from European Commission inspectors for allegedly poorly complying with the relevant legislation.
Mr Miller urged all livestock keepers to keep meticulous records to avoid unnecessary fines which will be applied if problems are found during inspections. A minimum penalty of 1% of subsidies is the likely starting point, but in more serious cases this could rise to 5%.
Mr Miller branded the latest clampdown a box-ticking exercise by officials to show the commission it has responded to the inspectors’ concerns.
Cattle producers are legally allowed 28 days to replace lost ear tags after they have gone missing.
But Mr Miller said penalties appeared almost certain where herds are seen to have significant numbers of missing tags and no record of replacements having been ordered.
“Inspectors will know before they arrive on a farm what the farmer has ordered by way of replacement tags because of the way the system works. If they haven’t been drawing down replacement tags then the likelihood is an automatic penalty rather than the 28-day period to correct it,” he added.
The same tougher stance will apply to sheep flocks, where the importance of the records kept in the flock register will now be all important.
Mr Miller said farmers must record in it the dates on which EID tags are administered to lambs and the numbers involved as well as the dates and identities of all sheep retagged. He emphasised the importance of recording all deaths in the register too.
“Inspectors know that sheep die. If farmers do not have anything recorded as dead the automatic view will be that they are not properly recording information,” he warned.
Mr Miller deeply questioned the tougher rules, saying there was absolutely no traceability value in the majority of the new demands as the animals remained on the holding and were not being moved so posed no risk.
“This is just a reaction to the European Commission saying authorities have not been strict enough and that they now need to be seen to be doing something. It is nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction to the commission. It’s just ridiculous and there’s no reasoning for it at all.”
Mr Miller appealed to farmers to maintain records in flock and herd registers as best they could to avoid what he said was not more than a “silly way” to incur a penalty.
“The register is going to be king,” he added.
The government said the ear-tagging rules had not changed and that farmers still had 28 days to replace missing tags after noticing they have gone missing.
But a spokesman added: “In response to feedback from European auditors, cross compliance inspections from January 2014 will include an assessment of the number of animals with one official tag missing, the number of animals missing two tags, the farming system practiced and the farmer’s retagging practice.
“Financial penalties will only apply in the event of either a large percentage of animals missing a single ear tag and the farmer’s re-tagging practice is deemed to be deficient, or, in the absence of other errors, where at least seven animals are missing two tags.
“The changes in the inspection process have been implemented in a manner that ensures farmers making an effort to comply with the tagging requirements are not penalised, while dealing appropriately with those making little effort to comply with the identification requirements and put the reputation of Scottish farming at risk.”
Government advice is that farmers regularly check their livestock and ensure missing tags are replaced promptly to minimise the risk of having a significant number of animals missing two tags. That should help avoid the risk of penalties, it added.