Markethill cattle sale in Co. Armagh will go ahead as normal tomorrow (Tuesday, August 22), however delays can be expected.
The sale is proceeding despite Northern Ireland’s livestock traceability system, or Animal and Public Health Information System (APHIS), having ‘crashed’ since yesterday (Sunday, August 20).
Auctioneer, Hampton Hewitt, told Agriland: “Assuming that APHIS is still not operating, mart staff will process all the relevant permits manually.
“But this will take time. We would specifically ask all vendors to reference their farm quality assured status on incoming permits.
“We will issue an outgoing permit to all buyers. All relevant data will be uploaded onto APHIS, once the system comes back online.”
APHIS off-line
APHIS went down on Sunday as part of a wider IT malfunction that impacted most of Northern Ireland’s civil service departments.
Queues of farmers with cattle to be slaughtered had been forming at some meat plants since earlier this morning (Monday, August 21).
A representative from the north’s meat industry confirmed to Agriland that cattle held in lairages overnight had been slaughtered first thing this morning on welfare grounds.
Vets will check through the paperwork on these animals as soon as APHIS comes back online.
The plants have been in touch with farmers scheduled to deliver cattle today, advising them not to take cattle in for slaughter.
Upgrade of the system
Meanwhile, the upgrade of APHIS to the Northern Ireland Food Animal Information System (NIFAIS) remains set to take place on Monday, September 4.
Because the transfer of all bovine data to NIFAIS from APHIS is a complex process and to reduce the risk of data loss or corruption, there will be restrictions on bovine tuberculosis (bTB) testing throughout a three-week period, from August 21 to September 11, 2023.
Reactor testing will take place during weeks one and three of the schedule.
There may be a short delay in the removal of reactors due to a reduction in the processing of valuations on APHIS and the generation of movement licences.
Any disruption is expected to be kept to a minimum and reactors must remain isolated until removed.
The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) said it will be working with all parties to ensure any delays in paying compensation are minimised.
Tag suppliers will have restricted access to NIFAIS during the weekend of September 2 and 3, 2023, so people are being advised to place orders for tags in advance of these dates.