PATIENCE can sometimes be rewarded, and it certainly has been in the UK farming unions' appeal to the government to show a degree of leniency in resolving the issue of cattle without passports.
The general public will be blissfully unaware of the fact that all cattle must have passports, carrying a range of information almost as detailed as those tourists require to board an aircraft. And farmers cannot operate without cattle passports.
The regime was introduced in the wake of the BSE crisis in 1996 to allow full traceability and a record of an animal's dam. The scheme is operated by the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) from its base in Workington, Cumbria. From a sticky start and some major administrative blunders, the regime has worked reasonably well.
However, there have been persistent problems with late applications. The rules state that BCMS must receive applications within 27 days of the birth of a calf. Failure to meet that deadline rendered the animal worthless, since its meat was subsequently banned from entering the human food chain.
Some lateness was down to irregularities in the postal service, while in a true hill situation the birth of a calf might go unnoticed for some time.
It is estimated that there are 23,500 cattle in the UK without a full passport, 10 per cent of those in Scotland. If the deadline was missed, these animals were given a notice of registration (NOR), which allowed BCMS to keep a record of them, but still barred them from the food chain.
The failure rate to register for a passport is understood to have stabilised at 0.6 per cent.
NFU Scotland has already gained a degree of discretion for farmers and crofters, and BCMS has for some time been willing to issue passports if the application was delivered close to the 27-day limit.
However, that was not ideal and discussions were held on the feasibility of DNA testing to prove the parentage of a calf.
The good news is that from 6 April farmers will be permitted to arrange for their local vet to take a DNA sample from a calf and its mother for testing at an approved laboratory. If the genetic link is confirmed, the results will be forwarded to BCMS and a passport will be issued.
That means that an animal which would be previously had no value could eventually be worth £500-£900.
The farmer will have to pay for the vet's time and £30-£50 for the actual test, but that fee could be higher if a rapid turnaround is requested. However, farmers should be aware that if the test proves to be negative, the herd will be subject to a full inspection.
This concession is reckoned to be worth £1 million to Scotland and £10m to the UK each year.
Nigel Miller, vice-president of NFUS, said: "This has been the product of two years of discussion with government and associated agencies. Passport-less cattle have been a long-running sore for the industry, so this solution is a major financial boost.
"The value recouped by successful tests will far outweigh the costs involved. Ultimately this delivers a win, not just for farmers, but also to the government since it enhances the robustness of its traceability system. It is also good news for the food industry, which was previously deprived of a good product, because a passport application was made a few days late.
News RSS