Electric identification ear tags are part of an annual routine for sheep farmers, but little is known about how the important piece of plastic is produced or the rigorous process they go through prior to distribution.
Central Victorian-based ag tech company Shearwell Australia is one of a handful of manufacturers of the small piece of technology which produces millions of tags for farmers in every state annually.
Shearwell Australia general manager Dean Bellingham said the ear tags were made from nylon pellets imported from Italy and injection moulded by a company on the Mornington Peninsula.
"A lot of R&D goes into the suitable plastics and colours to use because they need to be durable and the conditions our tags need to withstand are quite severe for plastic," he said.
After the injection moulding phase, batches of 5000 ear tags are sent to Shearwell Australia's factory on Murphy Street, East Bendigo, before each tag undergoes a conditioning process for several days.
The process involves tags being placed in a room at 80 per cent humidity.
eID tags allow for the individual identification of animals and contain a radio frequency identifier.
The varied colours represent the birth years of each sheep, set out under the National Livestock Identification System.
"We do have two additional colours, the brown and the grey tags, which aren't year of birth colours, but farmers may choose to use those tags for management purposes," Mr Bellingham said.
"Each of the year of birth colours is used to indicate what year a lamb was born and that is mandatory in Western Australia and in other states it's voluntary, but about 80 per cent of farmers use these colours."
Shearwell was started in the UK in the 1990s by farmers Richard and Carolyne Webber who still run the company with their children, James, Emma and Sam.
Shearwell Australia was established Down Under in 2010 after the introduction of voluntary eIDs.
The company said it was the first manufacturer of single, wrap-around ear tags in Australia.
After the conditioning phase, the microchips are programmed with a unique identification.
The company then uses a laser machine to label the individual tags with personalised information, along with the NLIS visual identification code.
By the end of the year, the company plans to release a cattle-equivalent wrap-around ear tag to replace the commonly-used button tag.
"Some farmers do find problems with the button tag and retention," Mr Bellingham said.
"We've developed a metal eID wrap-around tag which is currently going through its accreditation and we've received provisional accreditation which means we can now sell that tag commercially.
"This tag will be very hard to remove."
Mr Bellingham said recent increases in input costs meant sheep eID tags now retailed for $1.99, with visual tags attracting a 40 cent price tag.
However, in Victoria the price for an eID tag is 95c and in WA they are $1.17 due to government programs.
"The cost of freight has risen, the cost of the input materials has risen, the cost of energy has risen, the cost of staff and labour has risen and we're not immune from that like everyone else," he said.
About 22 people are employed at the Bendigo factory during the peak three months around lamb marking.
"It's a very seasonal product and a majority of the tags go out in a three or four-month period," Mr Bellingham said.
"We use casual labour to go from one shift to two shifts - a day and night shift - and while we have tried to work with farmers to smooth out the rush, even farmers who preg scan sometimes don't trust those results.
"eID tags are more expensive than the visual tags so people often like to wait to see lambs on the ground before they order."
Bryce Eishold
Bryce is a senior journalist with Australian Community Media's Stock & Land where he reports on all aspects of agriculture. Bryce is also the president of the Rural Press Club of Victoria. Email Bryce at bryce.eishold@stockandland.com.au.
Bryce is a senior journalist with Australian Community Media's Stock & Land where he reports on all aspects of agriculture. Bryce is also the president of the Rural Press Club of Victoria. Email Bryce at bryce.eishold@stockandland.com.au.
