Sheep and goat keepers in Wales are being reminded to submit their annual inventory form by Monday, February 1, to avoid potential penalties.
The form can be submitted by either logging onto the EID Cymru website, or by returning the paper form in the post.
FUW Pembrokeshire County Executive Officer Rebecca Voyle said:
“The annual inventory of sheep and goats is a legal requirement and it is vital that farmers record all the sheep and goats that they are the registered keeper of, by County Parish Holding [CPH] location, on January 1, 2021.
The number of sheep/goats declared must include breeding sheep, rams, ram lambs, store and finished lambs, cull ewes/rams, goats and any other sheep.
“It is important that farmers do this to avoid a potential cross-compliance penalty and an increased likelihood of an inspection,” she concluded.
Reporting livestock attacks
The FUW is also urging members to report all incidents of livestock attacks to the police to ensure that the right actions can be taken.
FUW deputy president Ian Rickman said: “Avoidable losses, such as those that occur when a dog chases or attacks livestock, remain a significant source of frustration for the livestock sector in Wales.
Industry initiatives, such as the FUW campaign ‘Your dog, Your responsibility’ which widened the message to respecting the countryside, picking up after your dog, keeping dogs on a lead near livestock and making sure dogs don’t escape from home, have had some impact but sadly we keep hearing about more incidents recently.
Rickman added that the FUW recognises that there is no one ‘quick fix’ to this issue, and that a mixture of education, campaigning and legislative changes are needed.
“As part of our work in this area, we will continue to lobby for real changes to be made to current legislation in order to provide a better deterrent to irresponsible dog ownership and to ensure that the penalties fit the seriousness of the crime.
However, to get a true picture of the situation and to help us get those legislative changes, we need farmers to report such incidents to the police.
Pembrokeshire PCSO Jude Parr from the Rural Crime Team said:
“I fear that farmers are not informing us as many just seem to deal with it themselves or go directly through to their insurers.
“We fear that numbers will increase because of lockdown and more people buying dogs.”
