Highland farmers support new cattle tracking system
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A long-awaited move to the electronic identification of cattle in Scotland has received a ringing endorsement from the farming community.
It follows the first in a series of ScotEID roadshows, including a successful trip to Grantown, about the state-of-art system that will spell the end of paper passports.
The well-supported events have provided the opportunity to learn more about the new scanning system that will track and monitor Scotland’s cattle herd in real time, reducing paperwork not only for farmers and crofters but for markets and abattoirs.
Meetings have taken place from Shetland in the north to Stranraer in the south in the first round of consultations.
A second phase begins in the New Year and will see another 15 meetings in regions right across Scotland.
Farmers and industry representatives have engaged well, turning out in good number, and bringing up relevant points during discussions, said Scot EID’s Anna Robertson.
“It’s been great to have so many people coming along to find out more about technology that will shape the future of recording cattle movements in the industry for decades to come, bringing many benefits with it.
“Farmers appreciate that this advance in technology will reduce paperwork, reduce handling of animals which brings health and safety benefits and will protect the coveted Scotch Beef brand status.
“We’re finding sectoral and regional differences. Where there is a small number of cattle or small pedigree breeds, the farmer might want to continue to read tags manually on their farm or smallholding, and that’s fine.
“In Orkney and Shetland, owing to cattle transportation by boat, we are already working on testing readers on the pier for the onward movement of cattle.
“Some dairy farms operate low frequency in parlour systems, and that throws up points for further consideration.
“We thank everyone for coming along and we look forward to meeting more stakeholders during our roadshow programme which continues until March. Please come along and join the discussion and find out more about future-proofing the recording process through electronic data transfer.”
To attend any upcoming meeting, contact the ScotEID team on 01466 794323 to allow for catering and seating arrangements.
ScotEID manages the database for recording animal movements in Scotland and has designed and developed the new recording system.
It will incorporate births, deaths and movements of cattle, replacing the British Cattle Movement Service’s (BCMS) Cattle Tracing System (CTS) for Scottish cattle keepers and provide an online line service and with the introduction of bovine EID and an Online Herd Register.
The new system embeds data experience from research and development and current data management by ScotEID, with the use of UHF technology bringing a number of new benefits.
The ScotEID database will bring together all farm livestock movement records within a central source and will lead to the removal of paper passports. It will be straightforward to use, will improve the speed and accuracy of traceability and reduce manual handling of cattle.
The plans are subject to Scottish Government approval.
