| MSPs Support Sheepfarming Petition
NFU Scotland and local sheep farmers have received backing from MSPs who have signed a petition calling on the European Commission to see common sense and remove the costly requirement to double tag sheep.
New regulations have been brought in that require Scottish sheep farmers to double tag their sheep, which is intended to improve sheep identification. Murdo believes that the regulations are bureaucratic, time consuming and expensive for Scottish sheep farmers and has signed NFU Scotland’s petition to have the regulations changed.
The petition from Scotland’s sheep farmers to the European Commission states the following:
• Remove the current requirement to double tag low-risk sheep, in particular home-bred ewes.
• Scrap plans to individually identify sheep and their movements. Any future sheep ID and movement recording system must be on a batch basis.
• Review the cost-effectiveness of Electronic Identification of Sheep (EID) prior to considering implementation.
Commenting, MSP Murdo Fraser said: “I believe that Scotland’s farming sector faces too much bureaucracy and red-tape. New regulations that require the double-tagging of sheep for identification purposes are taking up valuable time and resources for our sheep farmers in Angus and Perthshire.
“The European Commission must understand the importance of our rural communities to Scotland and the economy. The farming industry is particularly important to Angus and Perthshire and more regulations being pushed on our sheep farmers are not helping our farming sector. I support our farmers and NFU Scotland and have signed their petition which calls on the European Commission to see sense and remove the current requirements to double tag sheep.
“There are many sheep farms across the Angus and Perthshire glens and they are being hit by more regulations, making it harder to make a livelihood. I call on all supporters of our farming sector to back our sheep farmers and support the scrapping of the requirement to double tag sheep.”
Photo shows from left: MSPs Murdo Fraser, John Scott and Jamie McGrigor signing the petition in the Scottish Parliament’s Garden Lobby
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