Tag Price Developments Further Justification for Financial Support Towards Tag and Bvd Testing Costs

IFA Animal Health Chairman Bert Stewart has said the potentially increased costs for national bovine identification tags further strengthen the IFA case for immediate and meaningful Department of Agriculture financial supports towards the cost of tags and BVD testing.

Bert Stewart said indications coming from suppliers that costs for national bovine ID tags will increase are as a direct result of decisions taken by the Department of Agriculture in this area. He insisted the Minister for Agriculture must move to protect farmers from these cost increases.

Bert Stewart said IFA had earlier detailed to the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed and his senior officials the need for direct supports in this area to offset the costs associated with extended testing for BVD and to overcome the difficulties posed for the programme as a result of the Department of Agriculture’s decisions in relation to the supply of tags.

This latest development in relation to increased costs for tags further strengthens the case for these direct financial supports, Bert Stewart said.

He said IFA is seeking direct subsidisation for farmers by the Department of Agriculture of the costs associated with tags and testing for BVD in order to overcome the changes to the supply of national ID tags which do not guarantee all farmers will be supplied with tissue sampling tags as one of the identification tags and increase the cost of tags for farmers.

The IFA Chairman went on to say the Department of Agriculture must ensure tag suppliers meet the service requirements of farmers, provide suitable tags, and protect the robustness of our national identification system on which our bovine traceability systems are built.