A scanning technology expert has warned the low frequency (LF) RFID tags used in the cattle industry will not suit the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) for sheep and goats to be implemented in Victoria next year.
Mark Anderson, Adilam Technologies, Bayswater, said there was clear evidence that the technology best suited to NLIS for sheep and goats was ultra-high frequency (UHF) RFID, which scanned hundreds of units per second at distances of six to eight metres.
This compares favourably to the low number of scans per second at a few centimetres of distance for the LF RFID technology used in cattle.
Mr Anderson said Adilam had worked with Australian Wool Exchange (AWEX) to test and trial different technologies tracking bales of wool through the wool supply chain. He said AWEX would soon implement UHF RFID technology which, he said, would make its way onto farms very soon.
Mr Anderson said he was so concerned he had written to Victorian Opposition leader Matthew Guy seeking his support.
In the letter he wrote: “As a technology provider I am concerned that the wrong technology is being chosen at a much higher cost to industry and the taxpayer.”
“The taxpayer is compensating industry for approximately $1.60 per animal. I would have expected a proper valuation of what should be used to take the industry forward as alternative technologies work better and are cheaper.”
Mr Anderson said other states had indicated the Victorian decision would be isolated, and they would not follow as alternative technology was better suited. As an expert in RFID, he said he had discussed this with other interested parties in livestock and he was very concerned that not only had the wrong technology been chosen at a major cost but the reason to use LF tags was due to its use on cattle.
“Many studies have shown that low frequency will not work effectively on sheep compared with cattle,” he wrote.
Mr Anderson said he understood more than a year ago, a grant was given to evaluate if the existing tags used on cattle could be used on sheep. But the study did not allow for any other technology to be evaluated in the study.
Due to this he believes the government has made a decision based on ill-informed information that will have a high cost to taxpayers. And given that AWEX has chosen UHF RFID and not LF RFID for all wool bales it doesn’t makes sense that farmers with sheep and goats invest in both technologies.
With 75 million sheep in Australia and approximately 20 million in Victoria, it will cost tens of millions of dollars in Victoria alone and $120m federally in a choice in the wrong technology.
