Electronic Identification

Nicola Beavers runs a flock of 250 ewes at her farm near Eglish, Co Tyrone. Before joining the scheme she kept her flock records by reading ear tags and recording information in a notebook. This information then had to be typed into her PC.

Nicola was interested in trying out Electronic Identification (EID) in her flock. With EID, each sheep is tagged with an electronic ear tag. The unique numbers on these tags are recognised by a hand-held reader and this information is linked electronically with the management program on the PC. A keyboard on the reader allows information such as weights, drug treatments and body condition to be recorded for each animal.

EID has increased the speed and accuracy of recording compared to pen and paper. Information only has to be recorded once and the system has built-in checks to prevent mistakes being made. Details about the flock are more readily available when out working with the sheep.

Nicola says: “At first I used both the EID reader and my notebook. This year I am confident enough to only use the EID reader. It has saved me a lot of time and it is impossible to record the wrong tag number for a sheep.”

The European Union (EU) has agreed that the 31 December 2009 is the obligatory date for the introduction of electronic identifiaction of sheep and goats in all EU member states. There are still technical issues to be resolved, however, the system which Nicola tried out has great potential benefits for the whole sheep industry.