Legislation has to have a purpose and deliver real benefits or it simply wastes time and money.
That was the forceful view of Jim Paice, Tory spokesman for agriculture at Westminster, when he spoke to the farming press on a fact-finding tour of Scotland.
Speaking at Jimmy Sinclair's Crookston Farm, Heriot, in the Scottish Borders, where he had come as a guest of the National Sheep Association to learn first hand the impracticality of proposed double-tagging and electronic identification of sheep, he said: "I can't see the point of double-tagging. It doesn't produce any benefits for animal health or food safety.
"Such legislation is an on-cost for our producers.
We learned that from the pig industry with legislation on stalls and tethers that gave an advantage to our competitors."
Referring to the threat of imported New Zealand lamb, he added: "We must make sure that we don't legislate faster than our competitors."
Speaking ahead of Tory leader David Cameron, who is expected to unveil a package of proposals next week to reduce red tape in farming, he went on to say that he was extremely sympathetic to ending the current ban on burying dead animals on farms.
"I can't see the point of continuing the ban if the geology is suitable for burial. The present system of hauling dead animals about is a huge expense."
Those comments are seen as increasingly relevant in the light of the eradication of BSE and the now disproved theory that scrapie in sheep may have been linked to the disease.
"I can't see why we have to continue splitting sheep carcasses either," he added.
Further bluetongue restrictions welcomed The European Union has introduced tougher restrictions on the movement of pregnant livestock from bluetongue zones to reduce the risk of offspring spreading the virus to disease-free areas.
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs Richard Lochhead said: "Bluetongue virus presents an ever-increasing threat to Scotland's livestock industry and we must do all we can to keep Scotland free from disease and the associated restrictions for as long as possible.
"The heightened restrictions on the movement of pregnant animals from bluetongue-restricted zones, combined with the Scottish system of post-movement checks, will help protect us from this disease. However, I must also remind producers of their individual responsibility in tackling this disease and of the importance, wherever possible, of avoiding sourcing stock from high-risk areas."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article