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Mob based movement recording overturns for transaction tags

Tuesday, 23 June 2009

The National Livestock Identification System for sheep and goats will be strengthened with the addition of mob based movement recording.

As of the 1 July 2009 mob based saleyard transactions for sheep and goats will be recorded on the NLIS database by saleyard operators.

The nationally agreed changes to the NLIS Sheep and Goats program have been endorsed by the South Australian NLIS Sheep and Goat Implementation Committee and Primary Industries and Resources SA.

South Australia’s Chief Veterinary Officer, Dr. Rob Rahaley strongly supports the changes saying mob based movement recording significantly improves the traceability of sheep and goats with minimal costs to the industry.

“The addition of mob based movement recording will enhance the effectiveness of the NLIS in the event of an emergency animal disease or food safety scare without the need to adopt individual electronic identification,” he said.

“A major hurdle has been tracing boxed lines of animals through saleyards which relies heavily on paper work such as the National Vendor Declaration (NVD) which is often slow.

“Electronic mob based recording of movements through saleyards will significantly increase the speed of tracing sheep and goats with minimal extra costs to producers and without the addition of extra tags.”

Dr. Rahaley said the introduction of mandatory transaction tagging, which involves each new owner adding an NLIS tag over the life of a sheep or goat, has been deferred at this stage.

“It is clear that South Australian sheep and goat producers view mandatory transaction tagging as an unnecessary cost to their businesses.”

Producers selling non-vendor bred lines of sheep and goats are still required to record the Property Identification Codes (PICs) of previous owners on their accompanying NVD form.

To address remaining gaps in the NLIS Sheep and Goats, South Australia has strongly pushed for the development of a national business plan to outline the future direction of the NLIS Sheep and Goats.

“We need an orderly evolution of the system over time that meets the needs of South Australia’s industry and those of our trading partners,” Dr. Rahaley said.

Details: PIRSA NLIS Helpline 1800 654 688.