SOUTH Australia has expanded the range of coloured sheep and goat electronic identification ear tags eligible under its rebate program with no limits on order size according to tag colour.
The South Australian Government has confirmed it is expanding the rebate for sheep and farmed goat electronic identification (EID) tags purchased between 2023 and 2025 that do not align to the corresponding year-of-birth colour.
The rebate will enable producers who do not follow the year-of-birth colour system to access a rebate for applying National Livestock Identification System-accredited EID tags to sheep and farmed goats born in 2023, 2024 and 2025, the Department of Primary Industries and Regions SA said.
The expanded rebate will include all eight colours in the NLIS year-of-birth colour scheme. As per the earlier EID rebate program, South Australian producers will be able to apply for a rebate of 50pc up to a cap of 95-cent (GST exclusive) for each eligible tag.
The rebate will open 1 July 2024 for eligible tags purchased between 1 January 2023 and 30 June 2025. The rebate excludes pink post-breeder tags, non-NLIS accredited devices and colours outside of the year-of-birth colour system, such as brown and grey.
Tags aligned to the current year-of-birth colour can be purchased at a 95-cent discount at the point of sale, but producers buying other colour tags will need to invoice PIRSA for the rebate. The discount scheme applies for black NLIS-accredited EID tags purchased between 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024 and white NLIS-accredited EID tags purchased between 1 January 2025 to 30 June 2025.
No limit on tag order size
Sheep Central has been told by PIRSA that there isn’t a limit on how many tags of any colour producers can claim the rebate on. Some large SA producers have already purchased tags to be used in coming years. In other states, tag rebates or discounts have been restricted to tags in the year-of-birth colour.
Producers must declare, as part of the rebate application, that the NLIS-accredited EID tags purchased in 2023, 2024 and/ or 2025 will be fixed to sheep and/ or farmed goats born in those years only. However, it is not clear if this is going to be audited.
When Sheep Central asked if producers’ tag orders would be audited, a PIRSA spokesperson said:
“As part of the evaluation and assessment process for each grant application, PIRSA undertakes a review process and where there is a misalignment with historical production data further information will be requested to justify the number of tags being purchased.”
PIRSA said the NLIS year-of-birth colour system is used by producers for management purposes and remains voluntary in South Australia.
Producers must have an active Property Identification Code and be registered with PIRSA to claim the rebate.
Applications must be made via the online form. Go to Expanded EID device rebate to read the guidelines and apply. The Expanded EID Device Rebate will close 30 June 2025.
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