The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) said no decision has yet been made on the future of bovine passports, commonly known as blue cards.

Currently, it is mandatory for every bovine in the country to have a physical passport document.

This official identity document tracks an animal's date of birth, breed, sex, lineage, and ownership.

It must physically travel with the animal whenever it moves between farms, markets, or abattoirs.

The documents are part of the department's animal identification and movement (AIM) system, which is aimed at ensuring traceability for food safety, animal welfare, and disease control.

Passports

In 2023, the department confirmed to Agriland that it was considering what role, if any, cattle passports will play in the future of the traceability system.

It followed the introduction of mandatory electronic identification (EID) of cattle from July 2022, after a consultation process with stakeholders.

The move would also be in line with the government's digital strategy, which includes a reduction in the use of paper documents.

A DAFM spokesperson said that the department is "currently considering the appropriate timing and approach for stakeholder consultation on the future of bovine passports".

DAFM

In 2025, a total of 2,338,383 bovine passports were issued by the department.

This figure includes 2.28 million new passports and just over 55,000 replacement passports.

DAFM confirmed to Agriland that in the first five months of this year, just over 1.9 million passports were issued.

The vast majority of these were new documents, with 23,132 replacement passports issued between January and May.