National Sheep Association (NSA) is delighted to be running a series of six meetings across England over the next four weeks, looking at the upcoming changes to paper and electronic reporting for sheep farmers.
From 1st April 2014 farmers will be able to choose to record livestock movements electronically using a new database, provided for Defra by the Irish company SouthWestern. NSA has teamed up with SouthWestern to offer farmers this chance to ask the system’s provider questions and find out more about the database from the people behind it. The meetings are free and open to NSA members and non-members.
NSA Chief Executive Phil Stocker says: “Given the pressures on SouthWestern to deliver the database by 1st April, we are really pleased they’ve made the time to join us for these meetings and provide farmers in England with much needed information for the future. SouthWestern are not doing many farmer-facing meetings so I would urge all sheep farmers to join us on one of the six dates.
“The implementation of the database has meant some unpopular decisions have been made by Defra, including the removal of the non-electronic slaughter tag from 1st January 2015, but these meetings are not to debate the pros and cons of electronic identification but to give farmers the information they need to understand the changes coming in.
“A paper-based system will remain in place for farmers who are not enthusiastic about reporting movements using a computer, but I would encourage these people to attend a meeting too, so they understand the changes to both the online and paper reporting methods and how they can move from paper to electronic in the future even if they do not want to straight away.”
The meeting dates are:-
– 1pm on Wednesday 19th February at Cirencester Auction Market, Cotswold Agricultural Centre, Driffield Road, Cirencester, GL7 5QA.
> 7.30pm on Wednesday 19th February at Exeter Livestock Centre, Matford Park Road, Matford Business Park, Exeter, EX2 8FD (to be combined with the NSA South West Region AGM)
– 12 noon on Tuesday 4th March at Ashford Market, Monument Way, Orbital Park, Ashford, TN24 0HB
– 7.45pm on Tuesday 4th March at Bakewell Market, The Agricultural Business Centre, Bakewell, DE45 1AH
– 1pm on Wednesday 5th March at J36 Rural Auction Centre, Crooklands, Milnthorpe, Cumbria LA7 7FP
> 7.30pm on Wednesday 5th March at Hexham Auction Market, Tyne Green, Hexham, NE46 3SG
Booking is not essential, but for catering reasons NSA would appreciate attendees calling 01684 892661 or emailing charlotte@nationalsheep.org.uk with your name and the meeting you wish to attend.
