14th January 2021 - Flipbook - Page 7
NEWS
FARMWEEK
FEBRUARY 25 2021
7
UFU supportive of alignment on agri-food standards
T
HE Ulster Farmers’ Union says
it would back an agreement in
principle that would align the
United Kingdom as a whole to the
European Union’s agri-food sanitary
and phytosanitary (SPS) standards.
It would signicantly help minimise
trade friction from Great Britain to
Northern Ireland and vice versa,
solving many of the disruptive issues
that the NI agri-food industry has been
experiencing since the implementation
of the NI Protocol on January 1.
UFU president Victor Chestnutt,
pictured left, said: “Since the Brexit
referendum result the UFU has been
lobbying to achieve the best possible
outcome for NI farmers. Our aim has
always been focused on ensuring free
and frictionless trade could continue
east/west and north/south.
“Aligning the UK’s agri-food standards
with the EU’s would straighten out a lot
of the trade issues that we have been
burdened with since the beginning
of the year. It would do away with
a large percentage of the physical
and documentary checks that are
currently required, helping to ensure
agri-food products and livestock can
continue moving, owing as freely as
possible from GB to NI without extra
complications and costs.
“We have many examples already
such as livestock identication
changes and machinery soil contaminant certication where additional
restrictive measures are now required.
“One particular and very visible
effect is the shop window for NI
pedigree breeders being blocked, as
animals cannot be taken to GB to be
shown.
“While animals can still be sold
in GB, the regulations still limit the
farmer. If he or she travels to GB to sell
an animal but the animal is not sold, it
has a six-month residency to complete
in GB before it can be brought back
into NI. It’s not a practical situation by
any means and the long-term damage
will not only affect the pedigree
sector, but it will eventually impact
the availability and quality of the gene
pool of NI livestock.
“Aligning the entire UK with the EU in
the area of SPS standards would help
improve what has become an absolute
trading nightmare for many of our
farmers.”
DAERA re-tags GB
bought heifers
I
N yet another twist to the complications
caused by the Northern Ireland Protocol,
pedigree Holstein heifers bought in Great
Britain are being re-tagged by DAERA ofcials
on farms around the Province.
Animals purchased in GB must have an
additional tag, an export tag with GB marked
on it, inserted before they are shipped. A batch
of calves bought on December 5 at the Black
and White sale in Carlisle recently arrived in
the Province after doing their standstill period.
Within days DAERA ofcials arrived on farm
at various locations to remove all tags in the
calves – the tag of birth and the export tags
– and informed the farmer to insert the next
consecutive tag from his own supply, carrying
his own herd number.
Provides protection against RSV, PI3 and the BROADEST
protection against Pasteurella*
Ma
nn
he
im
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RS
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PI3
How will the society
deal with these new tag
numbers?
Holstein NI Secretary John Martin
While this arrangement may be acceptable for
commercial stock, Holstein NI is alarmed at the
disruption this could cause to the standing of
these animals in the breed’s Herd Book.
Secretary John Martin told FarmWeek:
“Pedigree stock are identied by their tag
number. Their tag number is their Herd Book
number. If this tag number is then changed
how will the society deal with these new tag
numbers?”
Mr Martin also took issue at no documentation
being left with the farmer to verify that the tags
had been changed under DAERA supervision.
He also fears that this change of identity
will have adverse effects to the recording
of bloodlines with a break in the chain from
ancestry to progeny. “All future progeny could
be affected,” he warned.
As FarmWeek went to Press there was
expected to be a meeting between Holstein
breeders and DAERA’s veterinary division to
try to work out a resolution.
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2 weeks of age
Election for Dale
Farm director
Birth
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IE-BOV-210200005 FEB 2021
THERE is to be an election for the post of
director of Dale Farm Co-operative in Area
One.
The sitting member, Fred Allen, is eligible
for re-election for a further four year term
having been rst elected in 2009. Fred,
who runs a herd of pedigree Holsteins near
Randalstown, was subsequently appointed
as vice-chairman in April 2015 before
succeeding John Dunlop as chairman of the
Board of Directors this time last year.
The challenger is 28-year-old Ian Currie,
also from Randalstown, who is bidding to
become the youngest board director. Ian
runs a herd of 90 pedigree Ayrshire cows
with his father George.
6 weeks of age
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Withdrawal periods: zero days. Legal Categories: ROI POM(E) NI POM-V .
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