MP demands flexibility on tags

NORTHERN isles MP Alistair Carmichael has called on EU officials to allow for flexibility in livestock tagging rules after it emerged that delays in sourcing electronic tags could hit autumn sales in Shetland.

Under controversial EU rules introduced at the beginning of the year, all sheep born since 1 January must be fitted with an electronic identity tag (EID).

Suppliers are warning farmers and crofters that they may have to wait for up to seven weeks to receive their tags.

There are also fears that the delay could create problems for farmers wanting to participate in agricultural shows.

Mr Carmichael said on Tuesday: “Many of us who opposed the move to electronic sheep tagging did so because we believed the system that had been proposed was unworkable. It now begins to look like we were right.

“This is exactly the kind of situation that demonstrates why we need to see flexibility within the system until a review of the way these rules have been implemented and enforced is complete.

“Local farmers have done everything they possibly could have done to comply with the new rules. They must not be penalised as a result of a problem they had no hand in creating.”