Costs and reliability of livestock traceability systems for the Dutch sheep and goat sectors

The costs and reliability of two electronic identification and registration (I&R) systems for sheep and goats were estimated and compared to the current I&R system in the Dutch sheep and goat sectors. In the current system (farm individual registration or FIR), animals are identified with ear tags with an individual animal number, unique farm number and registered on-farm. In the central individual registration (CIR) system animals are identified with electronic ear tags and registered individually in a central database. In the central group registration (CGR) system animals are identified with electronic ear tags and registered individually on-farm, while group movements are registered in a central database. The net costs for the FIR system were 2.6 and 1.2 million Euros per year for sheep and goats, respectively. These net costs increased to a total of 11.8 and 6.0 million Euros per year for the CIR system and to 13.5 and 6.8 million Euros per year for the CGR system. The expected percentages of incorrect registrations were equal to an average of 7.2% and 3.4% for FIR and CIR, respectively, and a lower limit of 7.6% for CG