All cattle in the UK have to have two ear-tags fitted that are embossed with an individual identification number, registered with a national database and recorded on an individual passport.
That passport also records the date of birth, the ID.of the animal’s mother and any movements off of the farm, as well as subsequent movements. As a result, all cattle in the UK can be traced and through other records kept by their owners their medical history is also known. Failure to comply with strict regulations can lead to hefty financial penalties through the loss of subsidy payments as well as the animal being excluded from the human food chain and becoming worthless as a result.
Although not as complex, there are similar systems of tracing sheep movements based on the individual electronic ear-tags that they must have fitted by law.
On top of all that traceability, all farm livestock ranging from cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry must be properly disposed of through a knackery, where they are rendered and incinerated. It is illegal to bury farm animals on the farm.
Horses on the other hand have poor traceability and can be legally buried because they are regarded as pets, but burial is not a cheap option as a digger may have to be hired.
In the past, hunt kennels provided a free collection service to feed their hounds, while knackeries uplifted horses for a modest fee and then rendered and incinerated the carcasses. Times have changed with hunt kennels hard to find and charging for the service.
Others may opt for their horse to be cremated, which can cost around £500, and then have the ashes retained in a casket or scattered at a chosen site.
The problem with horses is that, unlike other Europeans, the British no longer eat horse meat. It’s a bit like the Chinese eating dogs, while most Europeans find that abhorrent.
Livestock farmers cull their animals when they become older and less productive - long before old age and disease sets in. Such animals may fetch less than younger ones slaughtered in their prime, but they still have a significant value in the food chain. Horses on the other hand are often allowed to live on until they become a welfare issue.
Having a horse put down is a difficult decision to make for a family pet, but no more than a farmer culling a much-loved, prize-winning cow or sheep.
It is estimated that there may be as many as 1.3 million horses in Britain, while a recent estimate from Horse Scotland suggests that there were 100,000 equines in Scotland in 2014.
The increase in the horse population across the UK has resulted in an unprecedented number of equine health and welfare issues, including an epidemic of equine obesity, most notably in England, where existing charities that handle welfare cases and take on unwanted animals are operating at maximum capacity.
Equine identification regulations in Scotland and the rest of the UK have been reviewed numerous times since 2004. New passport legislation has been introduced that led to the creation of 72 passport-issuing organisations and a national equine database that has come and gone. The equine registration system has, as a result, become difficult to track and enforce.
Lack of good traceability is one of
the main factors hindering the slaughter of horses for human consumption
in the UK or for export as carcasses
to Europe. There is a market for those that have a reputable passport and proper, reliable records demonstrating the horse has not been given medication that make it unsuitable for human consumption.
Having eaten horse meat in both France and Belgium I can vouch that it is delicious. Indeed, the “Horse Meat” scandal that emerged in January 2012 exposed the fact that thousands of British consumers had unwittingly been eating horse meat in a variety of products and presumably enjoying it.
Every autumn much-loved Dartmoor Fell ponies are served up at farmers’ markets as burgers and sausages. Hundreds of surplus ponies are culled each year to keep a constant number in the national park in line with environmental requirements - with most of the meat from those culls being exported for human consumption.
The idea of selling the meat at the farmers’ markets and in local pubs was to create a market for the older ponies to stop the foals being shot at birth. The idea has proved popular and many travel to buy the pony meat.
Perhaps we should be following Princess Anne’s advice and consider eating horse meat like other Europeans.
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel