Following the union’s claims that changes to EID rules for sheep could potentially increase the burden on farmers, the NFU has urged European policy makers to bear in mind the associated teething problems when rolling out bovine EID.

The calls were made as MEPs voted on proposals put forward by the European Commission on amending registration and identification of cattle, set out in August last year.

They adopted suggested guidelines to govern the voluntary roll-out of electronic identification in cattle. Although a mandatory switch had been proposed, MEPs backed the European Commission proposal for bovine EID to be brought in on a voluntary basis.  

European parliamentarians also accepted an amendment which acknowledges faults with EID technology and suggests farmers whose infractions of EID rules which are the results of technological malfunction, such as faulty tags or inaccurate electronic readers, should not be penalised under cross compliance legislation.

Charles Sercombe, NFU livestock board chair, commented on the vote, “It is essential that the introduction of bovine EID is voluntary to allow farmers to choose to use the technology if they are likely to see a benefit in their farm business. For those farmers that do use the technology it is equally important that they are not penalised for errors which are beyond their control.

“Given our past experiences it is slightly worrying that the MEPs have asked the Commission to review the voluntary rules on bovine [EID] in five years from now but we will continue to work in Brussels to make sure our cattle farmers do not suffer under this review.”

The MEPs’ conclusions will go before EU agriculture ministers to consider, before being passed back to the European Parliament for final approval.

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