Sheep producers and agents keen to know more about the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) for sheep are invited to attend a traceability workshop.
The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, with support from Sheep Producers Australia (SPA), is delivering five workshops across the agricultural region from late March to early April.
Department stock identification and traceability operations manager Beth Green said the workshops would provide a great opportunity to understand how to maintain traceability of stock and to prepare them before moving off a property.
“Each time one or more sheep are moved onto a property from a different property identification code (PIC), this must be recorded on the NLIS database within 48 hours of their arrival, even if it is between the producer’s own PICs,” Ms Green said.
“The one circumstance when this is not the producer’s responsibility is if they purchase from a saleyard, where it will be done for them.”
Ms Green said these are mandatory requirements of NLIS Sheep, designed to provide traceability in order to minimise the effect of a disease outbreak and to support market access. The system can also assist the police when undertaking stock theft investigations.
“If a devastating disease such as foot-and-mouth disease were found in Australian livestock, effective traceability systems would be required to track, control and eradicate it,” Ms Green said.
“An effective traceability system means we could resume trading sooner, thereby limiting the financial and social impact of a disease outbreak.”
Workshop participants will be shown how to use the NLIS database, including how to create a free NLIS account, how and when to record sheep movements on and off a PIC with information from the waybill, and how to run management reports.
The workshop will also provide an update on how to identify all sheep with the consignor’s brand, being homebred or non-vendor bred, and how to complete an NVD waybill correctly.
“A stock inspector or the police can stop a load at any time and check the waybill against the stock on board, so it’s important to have everything in order,” Ms Green said.
SPA’s Product Integrity Manager Bonnie Skinner will assist at the workshops, which form part of a collaborative industry and government national focus aimed at enhancing Australia’s systems for sheep traceability.
The free workshops will be held from 10.30am – 12.30pm at five Community Resource Centres:
Boyup Brook on Tuesday 26 March;
Brookton on Wednesday 27 March;
Cunderdin on Tuesday 2 April;
Dandaragan on Wednesday 3 April and
Ravensthorpe on 4 April.
Attendees must register by emailing nlis@dpird.wa.gov.au or phoning 0427 388 433. Participant numbers are limited.
Media contacts:
Jodie Thomson/Lisa Bertram, media liaison +61 (0)8 9368 3937 / 9368 3325