NEW sheep identification proposals could be the final straw for some farmers.

The European Commission wants all sheep to carry two 14-digit ear tags with the numbers checked and recorded every time they are sold and the proposal has caused outrage in the Britain, where there are 37m sheep.

Last Friday, Northumberland farmer Tom Robinson warned it could be too much for some producers: "There are a lot of farmers suffering from depression after foot and mouth and I fear some will be pushed over the edge if this comes in."

Mr Robinson was host to a fact-finding visit by Dr Gordon Adam, Euro MP for North-East England and Labour's spokesman on agricultural affairs in the European Parliament.

Mr Robinson farms 2,700 acres at Ottercops Farm, near Kirkwhelpington. The land stands 1,000ft above sea level and 2,300 acres is heather hill, with the rest grassland. The farm runs 1,420 Swaledale ewes, half of which are crossed with the Blue-faced Leicester. There are also 300 ewe hogg replacements and 140 Galloway and blue-grey store cattle aged between seven and 23 months.

The entire farm is in Countryside Stewardship, so 1,000 ewes are lambed on the hill, keeping stock levels low in the fields to protect the nesting waders.

Bird numbers have noticeably increased since 70 of the store cattle have been sold directly out of the sheds in spring to reduce the stocking rates. The remainder are turned out in May and June and spread thinly across the grassland.

The farm is also in its second year of organic conversion.

Mr Robinson has been at Ottercops for four years and farms it with just a part-time shepherd.

He is horrified by the proposed double tagging of sheep which he believes would be totally impractical and unnecessary. "It is 3 miles from the steading to the most southerly point of the farm and can take three days for two men and five dogs in summer to gather all the hill sheep," he said.

"With 1,550 lambs born each year the logistics of double tagging and recording each one individually is a daunting task."

Apart from the time and paperwork involved, there would be a major animal welfare issue. The easiest time to tag would be shortly after birth before lambs went out, but that would not be acceptable from a welfare point of view.

David Maughan, chairman of the North Riding and Durham County NFU, believed some producers would quit the industry if individual ID was introduced.

He stressed that Defra had already introduced tighter ID through identifying sheep by farm. All movements were also recorded with the local trading standards authority.

Mr Maughan stressed the welfare problems caused by tags getting caught and ripped out, damaging ears. "It is estimated 20pc of tags would be lost," he said.

Malcolm Corbett, NFU less favoured areas delegate for the North Pennines, also accompanied Dr Adam on his visit.

"Every sheep farmer will say the proposals are completely impractical," he said. "Can you imagine a farmer who is selling a batch of 150 sheep trying to note down accurately each individual, 14-digit number during an autumnal storm?" he said.

Mr Corbett also condemned the idea on welfare grounds. The EC proposal was for the tags to be fitted in new-born lambs. "But sheep are very inquisitive animals and have a tendency to push their heads through fences which would rip the tags off," he said. "We will get lambs with horribly shredded ears and legislation telling us to drive another tag into them."

Farmers had no objection to traceability, but these proposals were wrong and the NFU would not support them.

Dr Adam is compiling a report on the proposals for the agricultural committee of the European Parliament.

He said it was very clear local farmers were very much against the proposal which was seen as "monstrously difficult". He felt the EC had not appreciated just how many sheep there were in Britain.

The fact that support payments were switching from headage to a single payment also meant there would be no need for checks from a financial point of view.

"If we are going to go down the road to a very heavy sheep control system there has to be very good argument for doing so," said Dr Adam. "There is no doubt that the costs would be enormous and it is very difficult to see how the industry could survive."

He said Britain was not alone in its opposition to the proposal, other member states also opposed it.

Dr Adam said the committee was due to discuss the proposal in March and he hoped a final report would go through to the European Parliament in either June or July