I'm still struggling with the idea that we all need to have electronically readable ear tags. As I see it, most alpaca breeders won't buy electronic readers - it just won't be worth their while to do so - and many of the places they take their alpacas to, such as other properties for mating, won't have them either.

It's been suggested to me that a group of breeders might band together to buy a reader - this sounds good in theory but things can be quite different in practice if you are a long way from other breeders or someone wants it when you want it.

I can see the point in a way for large shows where the tags can be read electronically but is this really going to be any quicker, given that the animals still have to be checked manually anyway? What it does give is a record of the animals being there, I suppose, but will all show convenors need to get an electronic reader, even for small shows? Who will pay for this? Aren't the records of entries ticked off by the stewards sufficient to say that the animal has been there?

As far as I can see, for most breeders it will come back to manual recording of movements anyway. So why do we need the tags to be electronically readable for all? Could we have choice in this?

I'm not meaning to come across as combative with this - it's just something that for me hasn't so far been explained in such a way that I can see there is a need for it (them being electronically readable - I agree that we need identification and tracking of animal movements).

cheers
Helen

Hi Michael

As  I choke on my Moet, I hope you're joking about the last comment!