Animal Id and Traceability

SA saleyard inspections aim to lift sheep movement compliance

Sheep Central, May 23, 2017

Biosecurity SA staff will be checking for tags.

IMPROVEMENT is needed in key areas of sheep and goat identification and movement compliance in South Australia, Biosecurity SA said today.

Livestock SA has warned its members of a statewide focus on sheep and goat traceability targeting identification and movement documentation at saleyards until June 30, 2017.

Livestock SA said the Biosecurity SA operation is specifically targeting producer compliance with NLIS, after increasing incidences of non-compliance in saleyards and abattoirs.

Biosecurity SA executive director Will Zacharin confirmed that staff will be targeting identification and movement documents to improve the understanding and reinforce the importance of National Livestock Identification System compliance.

“We will be looking to ensure animals are tagged correctly, including the use of pink post-breeder tags, and checking the National Vendor Declaration accompanying each mob is completed appropriately.

“It’s critical that everyone plays their part to gain the maximum benefit from the NLIS process,” he said.

“On the whole, most producers try to do the right thing but there are some key areas where we need to see improvement.

“Maintaining strong biosecurity practices through life-long traceability ultimately means a better return on investment from the paddock to plate.”

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Livestock SA chief executive officer Andrew Curtis said during the next two months Department of Primary Industries and Regions SA inspectors would closely monitor livestock transactions to ensure producers, agents, saleyard operators and processors were meeting requirements under the NLIS system.

“Producers, saleyards, agents and processors all have responsibilities under the NLIS scheme, to ensure it operates well in their facility and that they and their clients are NLIS compliant.

“We understand that PIRSA inspectors will be checking the tagging of sheep and National Vendor Declarations for accuracy and completion, with a strong focus on non-vendor bred consignments,” he said.

“The operation is aimed at increasing the understanding and compliance with NLIS for sheep and goats, ensuring they are correctly tagged, and the NVD accompanying each mob is accurately completed.”

Although no state sheep and goat traceability results have been released from last year’s Sheeptracker II exercise, Livestock SA said it showed that the current system was working well in South Australia, but there was still room for improvement.

The national rates at which Sheepcatcher II found NVDs were incorrectly or not completed were 29pc for details, 12pc for tag list, 23pc for NLIS tags, 49pc for post-breeder tags, 40pc for consignment details and 36pc for destination details. The compliance analysis found not all producers are filling out NVDs completely and accurately – particularly for non-vendor bred consignments, the NLIS database is not being notified of some property-to-property movements, and some producers are not keeping NVDs for the requisite seven-years.

Livestock SA said when consigning sheep and goats that weren’t born on the property, producers must either record all of the PICs present on ear tags in the consignment on the NVD, or they must re-tag the animals with a post breeder (pink) tag assigned to the property and tick the applicable box on the NVD, including the length of time animals have been on the property.

Non-compliance penalties range from $375 fines through to prosecution for more serious offenders. Producers are also reminded to be vigilant on notifiable diseases such as footrot and lice as penalties apply for the consignment of unfit stock to saleyards in SA.

For more details visit www.livestocksa..org.au or check this Biosecurity SA link http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/biosecurity/animal_health/sheep/moving_sheep_and_goats_within_south_australia

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