Victoria’s Agriculture minister Jaala Pulford has rejected concerns by livestock agents over the timing of the rollout for sheep and goat scanning.
Australian Livestock and Property Agents (ALPA) has questioned Ms Pulford’s claims, made to Parliament, electronic scanning at the Ballarat saleyards was up and running.
“To date no commercial trials have been conducted in a sale environment,” ALPA southern regional manager Liz Summerville said.
“Trials that have been conducted have been to observe the flow of sheep and to ascertain the optimum location for scanners.”
ALPA and the State opposition called on the government and Agriculture Victoria to delay the March 31, 2018 electronic scanning deadline.
It was a concern reflected by opposition Agriculture spokesman, Peter Walsh, who said Ms Pulford had admitted she has no idea of serious concerns with the implementation of electronic identification (eID) of sheep and goats.
Mr Walsh said Victorian saleyard operators claimed they wouldn’t be ready to scan by the March deadline, because the software they need to share data with the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) was still being trialled.
Mr Walsh called on the government to commit to a 12 month extension on the rollout.
“The Agriculture minister is burying her head in the sand and hoping eID will implement itself,” Mr Walsh said.
“I recently met with stock agents, vendors and transport operators in Hamilton who echoed serious concerns with the slow progress.
“Saleyard operators have been begging to meet with the Minister and discuss their concerns, but they’ve struggled to get a look in.”
ALPA said about 80 per cent of lambs in last week’s Ballarat yarding had radio frequency identification (RFID) tags however only 25pc, or 4,000 lambs were scanned, and that information uploaded to the NLIS database.
“We also note that scanning was conducted by the staff of the saleyards using hand scanners only,” Ms Summerville said.
But Ms Pulford said electronic tagging was another example of Victoria leading the way in strengthening its biosecurity systems and boosting agricultural exports.
"It’s disappointing that ALPA continue to resist this initiative, rather than just getting on with the job like everyone else in the supply chain,” Ms Pulford said.
“We are working with all sectors across the supply chain to aid the introduction of identification tags and scanning technology.
"It is great to see Ballarat already working on this and showing it can be done, even with hand held wands, initially for the electronically tagged lambs at their weekly sale."
Ms Pulford acknowledged some saleyards operators were worried about their ability to make the change, but the government would continue to support them to be ready for the deadline.
Voluntary scanning of electronically tagged sheep at Ballarat provided the opportunity for agents and others to see the system working, at an operational level, at Victoria’s busiest saleyard.
An extension of the closing date for both phase one and two was approved in March 2017, to allow saleyards more time to plan.
Australian Livestock Saleyards Association (ALSA) president Stuart McLean said he was confident the deadline would be met.
“We have worked very closely with all the saleyards running trials and surveying all the options, available to saleyards to meet the mandatory requirements,” Mr McLean said.
“It’s fair to say all the yards are different and all are going to have different kinds of challenges – they will be around the amount, and flow, of stock and various differences apply to the yards as to where the sheep are delivered in or taken out.”
He said members had been working closely with equipment suppliers.
“While it’s fair to say they are under the pump in getting that equipment ready, I am pretty confident they will have it ready to go,” he said/
“Phase two applications have to be in by the end of the month and that will provide the way forward to roll out the infrastrucutre, over the next six months.”
Mr McLean said ALSA was working to the current deadlines and did not expect any change.
“I’m hoping ALPA and the agents make the most of this opportunity to get a positive rollout and look towards a future where they will be part of, and be able to manage, stock movements with a lot less grief than what we currently have,” he said.
“The option of not going electronic would have been “draconian – they would not have been able to deal with that.”
ALPA acknowledged Ballarat was being proactive, in scanning well before the introduction date, but the majority of saleyards didn’t have the required infrastructure or software.
Ms Summerville said ALPA members had expressed concern that the current timeframes put in place may not be achievable.
ALPA called upon Ms Pulford and Agriculture Victoria not to rush to meet a deadline and to look at each saleyard on a case by case basis.
“We fear this rush is where costly mistakes will be made which will impact upon the viability of Victorian saleyards, which is a very important aspect of the livestock supply chain,” Ms Summerville said.
HF Richardson and Co livestock manager Bernie Nevins said most agents had major concerns about the roll out and didn’t think the saleyards would be up to date, in time.
“We have major problems coming up and most agents and selling centres have major concerns,” Mr Nevins said.
The government and Agriculture Victoria were intent on “rolling it out before the equipment is ready.”
He said Ms Pulford’s claims were “a load of rubbish. I think they have major headaches with it.”
“They didn’t consult or do their due diligence, they didn’t roll it out properly.”
