VICTORIA’S decision to make radio frequency identification (RFID) tagging of sheep and goats is no surprise. It has been working on this for some time, plus there is an increasing number of producers in some regions putting the question to processors about when they’ll be introducing RFID tracking.
At the recent Lambex forum in Albury, part of the discussion around carcase assessment, transparency and feedback along the processing chain was based around new technology (see p78-79) which JBS has been trialling for the past two years in its Bordertown plant in South Australia.
To take the information gathered from that unit to the next level of integration, that plant is already working on introducing hook tracking. With this with-in works tracking being developed (which is also happening at three other plants nationally), the introduction of RFID for sheep is shaping up more as a when, not if scenario.
With time, the benefits for producers through better feedback – which is already happening to a certain extent at the Bordertown plant for producers who direct consign – will see an increasing number move to RFID voluntarily for commercial reasons.
The sticking point remains though as to whether it is brought in as mandatory in NSW. NSW Department of Primary Industry’s auditing has shown high compliance in mob-based tracking. However, processors at this point are still limited in tracking retail cuts back to the farm level, especially where kill groups are made up of saleyard purchases.
So, is Victoria jumping the gun? Yes. There remains a lack of cost-benefit structures for producers and tools such as hook tracking are still in development.
History has shown that producers need a cost-benefit beyond the hypothetical of a bad disease outbreak to justify RFID’s worth. While this technology is fast approaching, it’s still a way off being broadly adopted and if your regular abattoir is not adopting the technology, then why would you use the tags?
Likewise, if you sell via the saleyards, then the mob-based system will continue to be the best option.
However, without mandatory introduction, NSW producers will still likely migrate across to RFID in significant numbers once the processors introduce the technology that provides the feedback required to generate a cost-benefit. But we still have some ground work to do before it is going to pay.
