French electronic bidding system will also be shown

ICOS National Marts Committee will host an open day at Ennis Mart to show a working display of EID (Electronic Identification) sheep handling systems.  The Ennis Mart Open Day will highlight the benefits which these systems can bring to co-operative mart farmers.  It takes place from 2.00 pm – 5.00 pm on Monday 28^th November and all interested sheep farmers are welcome to attend.

ICOS National Marts Committee Chairman, Michael Spellman, said recently that the full introduction of EID for sheep provides an opportunity for the Irish sheep sector to find ways of differentiating its offering to consumers.  “This is imperative given the growing levels of price convergence in the market,” he said.

ICOS Marts Executive Ray Doyle explained what farmers will see at the Ennis open day. “There will be a working demonstration of EID and this will provide a valuable insight as to how it could be beneficial to the mart sector.  Two auctioneering software companies Infoscience and Newline will demonstrate their systems.  Electronic tag readers will also be on display with both the race and stick types of reader in use. Farmers will also be able to see the associated computer and printout facilities that electronic identification systems for sheep can provide.”

Clare Marts will also have their new Reed Bed Effluent Treatment System on display.  This can be an attractive low cost option for some marts where waste water is filtered naturally using gravity flow and vegetation.  It can be much more cost effective than expensive centrifugal and chemical type systems for effluent treatment.

There will also be a working demonstration of a novel new method of electronic bidding for livestock. This system is in operation in several regions of Eastern France. The auction process remains a transparent method of buying and selling cattle and sheep but bidders remain completely anonymous to all except the auctioneer using a system of electronic bidding buttons that are provided at the start of the sale.

The ICOS Marts Committee would like to see the full introduction of EID for all sheep movements while continuing to implement the slaughter derogation for all lambs under 12 months of age – where these lambs are moving directly to slaughter from the farm of origin to the market factory.  This would translate into all sheep (except lambs under 12 months) to be EID tagged on leaving their holdings of origin.

ICOS – the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society – represents 130 co-operative businesses and organisations in Ireland – including the co-operative livestock marts nationwide and the dairy processing co-operatives – with some 150,000 individual members, 12,000 employees in Ireland (a further 24,000 abroad) and combined turnover of €10 billion. Irish agricultural exports contribute over €7 billion to the Irish economy each year and the sector accounts for 8% of national employment.

For further information please contact:

Ray Doyle, ICOS Marts Committee Secretary, 087 288 3499 / ray.doyle@icos.ie

Tim Kinsella 086 813 7512 / tim@mkc.ie