LOW cost ear tags are the foundation of a $1 million-plus saleyard push by the Victorian Government to foster electronic sheep identification in the state.
Minister for Agriculture and Food Security Peter Walsh said it was imperative for traceability, market accessibility and productivity benefits that the sheep and goat industries move to the “same process” – mandatory electronic tagging – as operated in the cattle industry.
“At some stage in the future I can see that it will have to mandatory, the same as it is for cattle.”
“The agents are an issue in some places, but this will actually save them work over time because the paper-based system is just not working well enough and people aren’t putting the effort into maintaining it properly.”
Mr Walsh said the Victorian Government was committing $500,000 in funding, matched by the Sheep and Goat Compensation Fund, to test the scanning of electronic sheep tags on a large scale. The money will be allocated to saleyards to develop plans for the installation of electronic tag reading systems.
“The Department of Primary Industries has re-prioritised some programs to actually find this money to kick-start this particular process along,” he said.
The government had also signed a contract with Shearwell Australia to supply a one-piece tag for 90 cents to producers.
“Feasibility studies will help saleyards determine how electronic tagging can be used in their operations, focusing on the most efficient way of routinely scanning large numbers of sheep.
“Funding will also be available to meat processors and Bestwool/ Bestlamb groups to further develop the commercial application of electronic sheep identification,” Mr Walsh said.
The industry would have to “wait and see” if there would be more funding for installation of tag reading systems at saleyards, but he believed there would be Federal Government support for Victoria’s move when all states reached a consensus, he said.
“There has been push-back from other states who don’t want to be part of it, but given the number of lambs that are produced in Victoria and are exported, we need to show leadership on it.”
The Primary Industries Ministerial Committee has established an industry-government working group to report within six months on a national electronic sheep RFID system implementation plan for 2014 or if not feasible to suggest an alternative date.
The sheep and lamb industry needed to “move forward”, especially as one processor JBS Australia had indicated it might not buy sheep with saleyards unless electronic tagging was introduced, Mr Walsh said.
Australia’s failure in a 2007 sheep traceability and disease outbreak simulation – Sheepcatcher – due a breakdown in the current visual tag and paper-based-system, was a slight on the country, on Victoria DPI and on sheep producers, he said.
Livestock Saleyards Association of Victoria president Stuart McLean said an expressions of interest process had started to allocate the $1 million in saleyards funding.
“We will be moving ahead very quickly in Victoria to do that planning and hopefully dispel some of the myths and work through the obvious benefits.
“We are probably going to face an EU audit later this year and we will again have to defend the way we trade stock in this country,” he said.
“It won’t be just Victoria; it is a national issue.”
DPI animal biosecurity and welfare director Dr Tony Britt said there was no limit on the number of tags available to producers for 90 cents at this stage.
