ENGLISH SUPPORT for the introduction of a Bovine Electronic Identification scheme has been echoed by industry players north of the Border this week.

The Livestock Auctioneers Association in England, one of several industry bodies represented on a stakeholders group set up by Defra to discuss the potential role of EID in cattle in the UK and its costs, has argued that there are big advantages for the cattle sector, especially as all the animals are already individually identified and movement recorded.

But – according to LAA chairman Alastair Sneddon – buy-in from all sectors of the cattle industry will be the key to its success.

A small proportion of British cattle farmers already use EID for management purposes and Mr Sneddon pointed out that if used generally, this system could provide a quick and easy alternative to the current passport system, with an electronic identifier attached to the animal, rather than as a bar code in a paper passport.

He added that competitors to the UK cattle industry overseas are also already using EID to help them exploit a broad range of parentage and performance data to develop better genetic evaluations, particularly for beef production.

“We believe bovine EID could offer real benefits to the industry here, particularly if combined with enhancements to CTS designed to improve the speed and utility of information between BCMS and end-users,” says Mr Sneddon.

And this viewpoint was shared by a number of Scottish industry players contacted by The Scottish Farmer this week to discuss the potential of such a scheme.

“The IAAS believe that, if implemented correctly, there could be real benefits for the auction marts and cattle industry as a whole,” said Institute of Auctioneers and Appraisers in Scotland executive secretary, Andrew Wright. “EID for bovines would provide an easier and quicker way of identification and possibly reduce the burden of paper based passports.

“We believe that the UK industry should engage with the EU Commission to develop an effective ID system rather than having a system imposed upon us as with sheep EID. There are other electronic technologies that would be better suited than those used for sheep EID,” he said.