I WAS conscripted to do a day’s work in the Bendigo Saleyards last Monday, as is often the case at this time of year.
The total yarding was 36,000 sheep and lambs, not an unusual number for October, but the first sizeable yarding this season because of the wet weather.
Many of the sixty odd agents and their staff spent 12 to 14 hours in the yards on the concrete, drafting, penning, selling and delivering the sheep and lambs.
They then spent another couple of hours balancing the sale before handing the books over to their admin staff.
As I drove out of the yards, I reflected on what the day might have been like had we scanned the 36,000 head and uploaded the data.
My view was that it would have been impossible to achieve without at least another dozen people dedicated to this task as the normal stock movements took place.
It would have been impossible to achieve without at least another dozen people dedicated to this task as the normal stock movements took place.
- Rob Bolton, Ruralco Southern Operations
Who pays for this impost and that of the infrastructure and maintenance? Unfortunately it won’t be the state government or the processors and that only leaves the producers and agents to shoulder the burden.
ALPA’s position on RFID’s is and has been well publicised in recent times, and the Bendigo sale last Monday would have failed the ALPA test on all of the objections.
It would not have been cost effective, efficient nor manageable.
Also, it would not have been part of a national program, so should from now be known as the Victorian Livestock Identification Scheme (VLIS).
ALPA has put out a call to fully implement the current NLIS mob based system on a national front.
We are also recommending a trial of the RFID’s before millions of taxpayer dollars are wasted on a system that may not even be workable.
And while on the subject of governments wasting money, the Victorian government should turn on the desalination plant, put it in reverse and suck a bit of water out of rivers, off crops and pastures and put it back into the sea.