Scotland is world first on cattle ID
Scotland is world first on cattle ID
SCOTLAND will be the first country in the world with its entire cattle herd electronically identified.
After weeks of speculation, Scottish agriculture minister, Ross Finnie, told the 300 farmers at the Scottish NFU annual meeting in Aviemore last Friday that he had secured the funding and that the scheme would go ahead.
His announcement was greeted with enthusiastic applause, with the farmers delighted at the prospect not only of Scotland being able to offer full traceability, but also because electronic identification should cut paperwork and improve herd management.
Mr Finnie said: "This is a huge undertaking, and one which can be delivered only if the farming industry works in partnership with the Scottish Executive." For that reason, he added, a joint industry/executive working group would be established to drive the scheme forward.
In forefront
"This project will put Scotland in the forefront of European technology. It will also aid the marketing of beef from Scotland, keeping us ahead of the competition," he said.
Speaking to reporters later, Mr Finnie said the £6m he had secured from the Scottish Executives budget would be used to cover the EID devices, fitting them to the countrys 2.2m cattle, and administration costs.
Senior executive officials said they wanted the scheme underway as quickly as possible, with most of the 700,000 breeding cattle electronically identified by the end of the year.
Other cattle would then follow, although the aim would be for executive staff to visit each of the 20,000 farms involved only once.