Sale lambs with electronic ear tags in Victoria.

A REPORT on how sheep and goat electronic identification could be implemented nationally has been presented to Australia’s National Biosecurity Committee.

A spokesperson for the chair of the NBC’s National Livestock Traceability Enhancement (NLTE) Working Group, Dr Sarah Britton, said the report did not include costings and guidelines for implementation.

The spokesperson said the report will be considered by the NBC at its next meeting, due later this month and industry will be consulted about proposed costings, options and implementation guidelines after the NBC has signed off on the report’s recommendations.

The NBC working group has been tasked with identifying potential implementation models for national sheep and goat EID, but not how a sheep and goat EID system could be mandated.

However, mandating the individual digital/electronic identification of all livestock in Australia is a key recommendation among five presented by SAFEMEAT to the NBC in March last year. Victoria is the only state with mandated EID for sheep and goats within the National Livestock Identification System.

The SAFEMEAT recommendations included:

– the establishment of a regulatory or statutory entity responsible for managing Australian livestock traceability,

– investment into a database capable of handling all FMD susceptible livestock species,

– mandating individual digital/electronic identification of livestock,

– creating an equitable funding arrangement for both the establishment and ongoing maintenance of the system and,

– that a consultation Regulatory Impact Statement be conducted to fully assess the impact of these recommendations to provide a fully costed decision paper to AGMIN.