Over €1.7 million has been paid out to around 58,000 farmers under year one of the Bovine electronic identification (EID) tag subsidy scheme.
The scheme was introduced to help farmers in transitioning to the new mandatory electronic identification system which requires that all calves born after July 1, 2022 must be identified with a tag set that includes an EID tag.
Under the scheme, which runs from 2022-2024, farmers will receive €1 towards the cost of each new EID tag set purchased, up to a maximum of €100.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue said: “It will deliver a substantial improvement in the bovine identification system for farmers, livestock marts, slaughter plants, export assembly centres and veterinarians.”
Bovine EID Tag Subsidy Scheme
According to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), the initiative aligns with and supports the Food Vision 2030 objective that Ireland will become a world leader in sustainable food systems.
It also aims to provide 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.
The EID tag subsidy scheme will last for three years.
Payments under the scheme in 2022 were calculated on the number of new EID tag sets purchased at a rate of €1/new tag set. There is a maximum payment of €100/farmer over the life of the scheme and no application process will be required.
According to the DAFM, the scheme is proportionately weighted in favour of smaller producers. Farmers can only order, annually, the number of new tag sets required commensurate to the number of breeding females in the herd.
Eligible payment examples:
- A farmer who purchases 30 new EID tag sets each year will be eligible for a payment of €30 in each year of the three years of the scheme;
- A farmer who purchases 100 new EID tags in the year one will be eligible for a payment of €100 in year one, however, they will not be eligible for further payments in years two or three.