Victorian and New South Wales sheep producers, surveyed this week, were divided on the introduction of electronic tagging for all sheep and goats born in Victoria from January 1, next year.
While most buyers at last week’s Kerrilyn stud ram sale and Swan Hill saleyards raised concerns about Victoria going it alone - and the cost to producers - others said they could see benefits from the new system.
Australian Livestock & Property Agents Association general manager Andy Madigan said there were still a lot of questions to be answered, on costs, funding and what technology was available.
“I think the biggest thing that needs to be sorted out is how it’s going to work, the disappointing point is the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) is simply that, it is national, it is not a state based system.
He predicted different systems, for different states, would cause confusion, so ALPA would “keep on asking questions.
“It’s early days for us, and early days for the department, but it was good to have a consultation with them – they were very open to suggestions, but we want some answers,” Mr Madigan said.
Scanning large numbers of sheep would have an effect on occupational health and safety, animal welfare and stock driver fatigue. “No-one can tell us that there is equipment out there that will do it; where are the tests and where are the results ?
“They claim the current visual system is not working in Victoria, but then again, it seems funny the others can make it work, but Victorian can’t.”
He said electronic tagging was “not a pipe dream” but there appeared to be reasons why the current system wasn’t working in Victoria. “In Victoria, there’s been a decline in biosecurity staff of 42 per cent since, 2012, surveillance activities have decreased by 39pc.”
Kerrilyn Merino and Poll Merino, Dunluce, stud principal Norm Weir said he could see some benefit, in tagging his ewe flock. “As an industry, I think it has been too overregulated, I don’t think there is any need to tag terminal rams, for market, or my wether lambs.”
