19 SEPTEMBER 2017

ICSA president Patrick Kent has said he is unhappy with the pressure being applied to live animal valuers. Speaking at the National Ploughing Championships ahead of today’s launch of ICSA’s new Animal Health & Welfare Committee Mr Kent said, “Live animal valuers are independent assessors and either they are up to the job or they are not. They should not have to put up with officials sitting at a desk second guessing them.”

“The Department of Agriculture has a penalty point system which holds the threat of disqualifying valuers from the approved panel if they are unhappy with their valuations. These experts in their field are living under continuous threat of being thrown off the panel if they deviate even slightly from theoretical figures determined by paper based analysis.”

Continuing Mr Kent said, “This might work in the case of beef animals but anyone with a remote appreciation for livestock evaluation knows that there can be significant variations in the values of suckler cows or dairy cows. Both the Department and the farmer are entitled to get a second opinion and that should suffice. ICSA has been approached by several valuers who feel under pressure to value an animal at less than its real value because of the Department’s system for determining who stays on the panel.”

The launch of ICSA’s Animal Health & Welfare Committee will commence at 2.30pm and will take the form of a panel discussion followed by a Q & A. Guest speakers at the event will be: Damien Barrett, Senior Veterinary Inspector with the Department of Agriculture, Mike Magan of Animal Health Ireland and Donal Lynch of XL Vets.

Mr Kent concluded that he expected the Animal Health & Welfare Committee will be very busy over the coming months with on-going concerns surrounding TB, BVD and Johne’s disease.

The ICSA stand is located at ICSA, Block 2, Row 13, Stand 294.

ENDS