News _{» Livestock Sales}

The Livestock Auctioneers Association (LAA) has expressed grave concerns about the slow uptake of electronic slaughter tags by English sheep farmers and it is urging producers to think carefully about which tags they buy.

This follows new figures released showing that 44% of all the tags ordered last month were non-EID slaughter tags, despite the evidence provided by the LAA to support the use of the electronic slaughter tag.

“If farmers don’t use electronic slaughter tags this year, it will restrict the number of people who are prepared to buy their sheep,” warns LAA Executive Secretary Chris Dodds. “We are advising producers that all their sheep should be tagged with electronic slaughter tags.

“While we appreciate these tags cost approximately 50p more than a single manual one, the benefits to the industry in enabling some 30% of the marketplace to remain in business massively outweigh this cost,” said Mr Dodds.

“While auctioneers will still sell sheep that are presented with manual ear tags during this transition period, we have to point out that it will restrict marketing opportunities and we hope that farmers thinking about ordering their 2010 tag stocks will talk to their local auctioneer first,” he added.


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