Correspondence

Animal Sentience Committee letter assessing changes to bovine identification, registration and movement

Published 29 April 2024

Grounds for ASC engagement 

Statutory bovine identification currently involves using plastic, metal or plastic and metal tags inserted through sensitive tissues in the ear. The policy assessed proposes transitioning to a fully digital service, from the current paper-based system, and which will use ear-tags embedded with a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip. These electronic identification ear tags (eID) ear-tags can be scanned at a distance by handheld devices and may be integrated into handling facilities, such as crushes and races.  

There are significant potential welfare benefits for cattle from this change. Visual ear-tags can often become obscured (such as by ear hair) and may be difficult to read at a distance. Use of eID will reduce the need to restrain the head of cattle to read tags, reducing risk of stress and injury to both operator and animal. Moving to digital records for animals also opens up potential for integration with other digital animal management systems, including disease testing records which may help with national control initiatives. While the ASC clearly support these benefits, we wanted to consider any potential unintended negative welfare impacts and potential for their mitigation.  

Evidence provided 

ASC initially considered the consultation document prepared for England. Engagement with the policy team was post-consultation, but prior to the publication of the consultation results or draft legislation being made available. ASC posed questions to the Defra Cattle Identification and Movement policy team, who provided prompt and helpful responses to these queries.  

Areas of focus 

There were two areas that ASC identified as potentially negatively impacting the welfare of cattle. The first related to whether any livestock currently tagged with the old, visual tags would need to have these replaced with new eID tags, or additional eIDs placed alongside old tags. ASC was also interested in the reliability of eID tags, and whether failing microchips would necessitate retagging.  

Recommendations 

The Defra policy team stated that, subject to ministerial decision, it was proposed that only newborn cattle born after a certain date would receive eID tags. ASC support this approach and would recommend against the ‘retro-tagging’ of existing livestock, which would result in increased stress associated with handling, increased risk of injury, and discomfort associated with ear-tag placement.    

The policy team confirmed that where an eID microchip failed, replacement would be necessary. However, they confirmed that microchips used are held to globally recognised international organization for standardization (ISO) standards, and that retention rates for specific makes and models will continue to be monitored as per visual tags. ASC support this ongoing monitoring and recommend that that microchip failure rates are monitored in addition to tag retention rates.  

Conclusions 

From the evidence provided by the policy team, the ASC are currently satisfied that adequate due regard has been given for the welfare of sentient animals in this policy. 

Governance 

This assessment was conducted by Richard Cooper in February 2024, working alongside the relevant policy team.