Scottish farmers will have to electronically tag all newborn calves from January 1, 2024, and replace any lost primary tags in other cattle, The Scottish Farmer understands.

The change will mean that Scotland is backing UHF transponders in cattle tags, as opposed to the low frequency chips used in sheep.

After two years of tagging all newborns, all cattle moving off the farm will also have to have an electronic tag in their ear from January 1, 2026. The tags will be official primary tags which will use 'WYSIWYG' (what you see is what you get) technology, so reading the electronic tag will show the official tag number on screen as printed on the tag.

At a recent meeting of the Bovine EID industry group at Thainstone mart, stakeholders witnessed a UHF system in action, and backed making the technology compulsory in two years. It is understood that the long lead in time is to allow farmers to use up existing non-electronic tag stock.

There had been trials of using both UHF and LF technology within the same tag – which would allow farmers to use the same readers as with sheep – however the LF chip cannot carry the official cattle tag ID as WYSIWYG. Picking UHF means Scotland is likely to be going it alone, as most of the world uses LF technology. England has indicated that it would pick LF technology, but actual implementation appears to be some years off south of the border, as the administration there still needs to change its numbering.

Scotland's switch to electronic is set to coincide with the removal of paper passports also on January 1, 2024. It is not clear if these passports will be removed entirely or simply be moved out of cross compliance requirements.

The UHF tags that are currently available from manufacturers in Scotland are thought to cost around £1 more than non-electronic tags.

The news of an introduction date will be welcomed by the industry, which has been waiting over 20 years since the idea of electronic tags was first proposed in 1999 under Minister for the Environment and Rural Development Ross Finnie. More recently cattle EID was delayed by Covid-19 when the migration of cattle births, deaths and movements records from CTS online to ScotEID was put back. This was to allow more time for farm software providers to update their systems to work with the ScotEID database to ensure day-one compatibility.

The Bovine EID industry working group is made up of NFU Scotland, Scottish Beef Association, Institute of Auctioneers and Appraisers in Scotland, Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers, Scottish Crofters Federation, Scottish Dairy Cattle Association, Quality Meat Scotland, Food Standards Scotland, ScotEID and Scottish Government.