The progress made by Scottish farmers in transitioning to the use of UHF responders for cattle EiD will be the topic of a seminar at AgriScot, the UK’s top farm business event. AgriScot, and the seminar programme, are free to attend and takes place on November 16^th at the Royal Highland Centre in Islington.

Representatives from ScotEID and the Institute of Auctioneers and Appraisers in Scotland will be amongst the panel members who will be discussing the addition of UHF transponders to primary cattle tags. UHF is planned become compulsory from January 2024.. The session will update the farming community on the timings of the roll out, the progress of the technology and how it will work in practice for hauliers, auctioneers and abattoirs.

David Kerr, technical manager at ScotEID, who is one of the seminar panel members says, “With just over a year to go before the full introduction of bovine EiD in Scotland, this seminar is well-timed. UHF EiD has the potential to revolutionise farmers’ cattle systems. Once the system is adopted in Scotland, then movements to and from markets and to abattoirs will be recorded using UHF technology, which is good from both a health and safety perspective but also for ease of use. It also removes burdensome paperwork.”

“One of the key benefits of using UHF transponders is that cattle numbering won’t change. The systems we have developed have a 100% read rate and interface with existing weigh heads. The majority of Scottish markets and abattoirs are now fitted with UHF readers for the increased number of cattle with UHF tags.

“The UHF tags provide live data for efficiency in cattle management and, importantly they can be read from a distance of up to five meters meaning a significant reduction in safety risk. A group of animals moving down a market pass can now all be read with this UHF technology.”

Farmers across Scotland have been piloting the UHF tags over a three-year period. One such participant is John Bowie, a beef finisher of Girtridge Farm Dundonald, “We started to pilot UHF tags as a cattle management tool to improve our beef cattle efficiency. It’s taken paper out of the equation for us at the crush.

“Linked with weigh bars, a weigh head and a dosing gun, we can now see daily live weight gains of cattle and communicate this data from the weigh head to the dosing gun by Wi-Fi so we’re not over or under dosing. It saves money and reduces resistance. With the reader we have in the crush, we can automatically weigh and record weights without reading tags and manual paperwork. It’s less stressful for me and the animal.

“If I am looking to buy cattle and I see they have a pink secondary UHF ear tag it’s of more value to me as it saves my time on farm sorting out paperwork.”

Andrew Jones Coull Farm, Islay participated in the pilot as he wanted to record the performance of their herd so that they kept the best - which produced the best.

Andrew says “We’ve tried to do it on paper before, but now we’re all electronic. It’s proper data rather than scribbled notes on bits of paper. We have no cows leaving the farm now without a UHF tag.”

The Cattle EID – Next Steps seminar takes place on Wednesday 16 November at the Royal Highland Centre at 0930. Entry to AgriScot is free of charge.