The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue T.D. has confirmed that over €1.7 million has been paid out to approx. 58,000 farmers under year 1 of the Bovine EID tag subsidy scheme.
The scheme was introduced to assist farmers in transitioning to the new mandatory electronic identification system which requires that all calves born after 1 July 2022 must be identified with a tag set that includes an EID tag. Under the scheme, which run from 2022-2024, farmers will receive €1 towards the cost of each new EID tag set purchased, up to a maximum of €100.
Announcing the payment, the Minister highlighted the benefits of EID stating that:
“It will deliver a substantial improvement in the bovine identification system for farmers, livestock marts, slaughter plants, export assembly centres and veterinarians.
This initiative aligns with and supports the Food Vision 2030 objective that Ireland will become a world leader in Sustainable Food Systems, enhancing consumer trust in our food systems.
Further, it will lead to a safer working environment for all stakeholders with less reliance on manual checking of bovine tag numbers and herd keepers and livestock marts will save time in the event of misread animals or mismatched passports”.
ENDS
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