THE new regulations governing the movement of livestock from Great Britain to Northern Ireland (NI) are threatening the future participation of NI pedigree breeders at major shows and sales in centres such as Stirling and Carlisle.

With GB treated as a Third Country, and NI aligned with the EU, it means that cattle – for example, moving from England, Scotland and Wales to NI – will have to have been resident on the farm in GB for six months before movement.

For the many pedigree breeders in the west of NI who regularly take top honours at some of these shows and sales, it is a risk bringing stock over there for a number of reasons; if the animal failed a pre-show veterinary inspection, if it did not meet the reserve price, or if it was purchased by a NI breeder.

The problems of getting the animal back to NI would be huge.

UFU President Victor Chestnutt, in a briefing for agricultural journalists, said that as far as he could see it was the end of all shows for NI stock because of the six-months residency rule.

He said for those not able to have the animal sold if they went to GB, they needed a Plan B in place.

"It's almost the end of our cross-channel sales. For the breed sales you have to go to measure up and that's something we've been lobbying about," said Victor.

He said he still hoped there would be some horse-trading during negotiations to bring a solution to this.

He said this also had a major impact on the smaller breeds of livestock such as rare breeds where the gene pool was limited in NI. The rules as they stand now were also posing problems for bringing semen into NI from GB, he said..

"Shows are a shop window for NI," he said.

This week, DAERA announced rules on the identification of cattle, pigs, sheep and goats coming into NI from GB from January 1, 2021.

A spokesperson stated: "There is no change to the way keepers identify livestock born on NI holdings. Keepers should continue to use existing tags and new-born animals will continue to identified with UK-prefixed tags and DAERA-issued numbers.

"NI livestock can move to any part of GB with their current form of ID/tag. However, GB keepers who now wish to sell or move livestock to a NI keeper will need to apply an 'export tag' to the animal which must be printed with the country code, GB.

"The exporting keeper in GB can apply for these export tags through their normal tag suppliers.

"Following the UK’s exit from the EU, Great Britain is classified as a Third Country, and under EU law, animals from a Third Country must be identified upon arrival on the destination holding with a unique identification code related to the holding of destination.

"Therefore, all livestock moving from GB to NI, for breeding and production purposes, will need to be re-tagged with a NI ID/ tag by the NI keeper.

"Sheep and goats must be re-identified within 14 days of arriving in NI; cattle within 20 days of arriving in NI; and pigs within 30 days, and in all cases, before leaving the holding of destination in NI.

"Animals which arrived from GB before January 1, 2021 will not be affected and will retain their current ID.

"Similarly, livestock moving direct to slaughter from GB will not need to be re-tagged.

"Animals coming from the Republic of Ireland or another EU member state will retain their original form of ID and do not need to be retagged."

For more information on the rules surrounding the identification of animals, please see https://tinyurl.com/y4mlh5la.