EID a threat to sheep farming, says Agnew

Newly-elected MEP Stuart Agnew has hit out at the EU over new rules on electronic identification for sheep.

A Norfolk farmer, Mr Agnew, who was elected to the European Parliament in this month’s European Election has wasted no time in speaking up for the interests of sheep farmers, in Britain, who are under serious threat from the European Union’s new rules on EID (Electronic Identification).

His intervention came after Scotland’s Rural Affairs Secretary, Richard Lochhead’s lobbying effort on behalf of Scottish farmers.

Mr Agnew said: “Whilst I welcome the initiative on behalf of farmers in Scotland, the fact is that these nightmarish regulations seriously threaten the whole sheep farming sector, because they add considerable costs, where margins are already low.

"Costs of £3 per head are being talked about, which is huge, when you consider that the average size of sheep flocks is around 5-600 animals. The sheer hard labour involved in carrying it out is also mind-boggling.

“The National Sheep Association has been campaigning against this bureaucratic nightmare for years, pointing out that the rationale behind it is fundamentally flawed as there is no clear indication that EID would offer any additional protection against the spread of disease, over and above existing measures.

“EID is also a very serious problem from an animal welfare point of view. It means that sheep will have to be double tagged. Under present rules, they already have a small identity tag in one ear, but Brussels now wants them to have another, larger tag in the other ear.

"They are painful and pose an increased risk of infection, particularly when animals are tagged in warm weather. They are also likely to catch on everything and pull off and they are expensive to replace.

“These are the kinds of rules that people who spend all day in offices generate. Only in the cloud cuckoo land of Brussels could such nonsense have been dreamed up.

"Unfortunately, until Britain regains its independence, begging Brussels for a derogation from the rules, is our only option.

"However, it should be done for the whole of the UK, otherwise we are going to get in a monumental muddle as sheep are sent from Scotland in huge numbers to be sold in England and also many farms straddle the border.”