NLIS decision due in February

Last year, the Department of Agriculture, through the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES), sought input from stakeholders on alternative proposals for improving the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) for sheep and goats.

The bureau is looking to ensure the traceability requirements of the National Livestock Traceability Performance Standards in reducing the biosecurity, food safety, market access and animal welfare risks is sufficient across the nation.

One option is to move from the current mob-based system used in NSW to mandatory electronic identification.

Almost two months after submissions closed in December, the bureau confirmed it received more than 100 submissions.

A draft impact statement will be made available to State and territory governments for feedback in late February.

"The majority of submissions came from NSW and Victoria," said an ABARES spokesman.

"The largest numbers came from producers, industry bodies, and stock and land agents. Animal welfare and veterinary organisations, researchers, governments, and other businesses also made submissions."

The spokesman said the main concern in the submissions was costs and benefits for producers.

"This was mostly around EID (electronic identification) systems," he said.

"A few (submissions) detailed productivity gains and other business benefits experienced through their own voluntary use of EID."

The NSW government, NSW Farmers and the Australian Livestock and Property Agents Association are all opposed to the introduction of mandatory electronic identification.

NSW Farmers produced a survey in December which coincided with the close of submissions to the bureau, which asked more than 500 producers whether they would support the introduction of mandatory electronic tags, and more than 93 per cent responded "no".

The results were reversed when the producers were asked whether they support the current visual, mob-based system.

Under the current visual mob-based system in NSW, all sheep and goats must be identified with an approved NLIS ear tag before leaving their property, but when moved from the property they are recorded in the system's database as a mob, rather than scanned electronically as individual animals.

The NSW Department of Primary Industries has done its own research into the effectiveness of the current mob-based system, which confirmed both systems met national standards and were effective for tracing foot and mouth disease.

"There is no evidence individual electronic tags will allow a large sale of 30,000 sheep or more to proceed within a reasonable timeframe with every sheep individually read, nonreaders and unidentified sheep tagged and returned to their vendor lot, with no adverse effects on animal welfare."

Submissions will be made publicly available on ABARES website before finalising the draft impact statement.