Using the correct passport stickers is essential to ensure any stock sold are properly recognised as ‘farm assured’ to allow the meat to be eligible for marketing with the ‘Red Tractor’ symbol.
The Assured Dairy Farms (ADF) – formerly the NDFAS - scheme has enabled the assurance of calves to a hundred days and cows over two and a half years of age from the dairy herd to be sold as assured since January 2006. However, markets and abattoirs continue to feed back that ineligible animals are being presented as assured with ADF / NDFAS dairy-beef stickers resulting in their rejection or price discounting.
Most common causes of problems are out-of-date stickers and the stickers being used on prime cattle under two and a half years of age and on non-dairy bred animals from a beef enterprise. There have even been cases where sheep have been presented as assured with ‘dairy-beef’ stickers!
Richard Davis, ADF Chairman said, “We encourage producers to check that they always use the appropriate passport stickers. Most importantly to ensure premiums are not lost, but also to keep the processing administration as efficient as possible.”
Where animals do not meet the ADF eligibility criteria, producers must also be a member of a beef and lamb assurance scheme if the animals are to be sold as assured. In most cases it should be possible for your Certification Body to arrange for the beef and lamb assessment to be undertaken at the same time as the dairy assessment, giving a saving in costs and avoiding another farm inspection visit.
