NFU livestock board looks for progress on sheep database

The NFU livestock board has called on Defra to make progress on a better system of movement reporting after acknowledging the potential benefits of a computerised sheep database for animal disease control.

There has been much discussion in the past two years regarding the formation of a national database to record sheep movements and last year the Government issued a Pre Qualitative Questionnaire (PQQ). However, budgetary constraints following the General Election have meant no further development.

Now the NFU is calling on Defra to address the various implications that the move to a computerised database may have on sheep producers across England including the issue of cost, the transition from paper-based systems, the IT equipment which will be used and the scope for further development.

Alistair Mackintosh, NFU livestock board chairman, said: “We agree that the present manual system (AMLS) which livestock producers use for identifying and recording sheep movements is out of date, inefficient and not fit for purpose.

“It is essential that we have an efficient system of movement tracking in place in order to control animal disease issues and quickly regain export markets after any disease outbreak. We have looked at the provision for new technology and believe there are a number of potential benefits that could be achieved to both industry and government.

“However, there are certain conditions that must be met. DEFRA need to be clear on the benefits of such a scheme to producers, what would be required of them, the additional costs and who would foot the bill. The Government must continue to bear the full cost and farmers should not have to pay in order to carry out their legal movement recording requirements.

“We would also like to see any future database developed alongside the package of measures made within the independent farming regulation Macdonald task force report and not treated in isolation.

“Provision must be made for producers who haven’t got the right technology or IT skills and, as it has been demonstrated in the last few weeks that having a database is not a shortcut to EID reading tolerances, it’s vital that Defra commit to continuing to work with us to put pressure on the European Commission to sensibly address the issue of tolerance for sheep movements.”