LIVESTOCK producers and processors are using the National Livestock Identification System to explore new frontiers in animal management and meat traceability.
Robert Radford, of Radford Meats, at Warragul, believes that for the processing sector, tracing primal cuts will be the next step in NLIS applications.
The domestic and export processor already tags the forequarters and hindquarters of beef carcasses with two NLIS barcodes, and the boxes they are packed into.
"Where ever they are sold, they can be traced back to the day they were processed, the processor and the property they came from," Mr Radford said.
"Traceability for all primal cuts ... will give added integrity to our product and ensure the Australian industry maintains the upper hand."
Victorian Department of Primary Industries' Tony Britt said there were "countless applications" of the NLIS technology for both processors and producers.
Already, producers are using NLIS readers and herd management software to improve the efficiency and accuracy of data capture, resulting in better decision making, Dr Britt said.
"For example, enhanced dairy cow identification has simplified herd recording and allowed the introduction of automated feeding and drafting systems," he said.
In April last year, the responsibility for the management of the NLIS database was transferred from MLA to a wholly-owned subsidiary of MLA.
But perhaps the greatest front yet to be explored with NLIS is in lifting on-farm efficiencies in sheepmeat and wool production.
Mike Stephens and Associates' Jim Shovelton believes that for wool and sheep meat producers, "the biggest untapped value is in improving genetics to breed more high-value sheep".
By measuring the fleece weight and micron from NLIS-tagged sheep and applying current market value, Mr Shovelton has identified sheep with fleece values ranging from $27 to $64 in his own flock.
"It has allowed us to select on the basis of the value of the sheep ... we don't run $27 sheep any more," he said.
Sheepmeat producer Ralph Gerhardt said the on-farm efficiencies garnered from NLIS far outweighed the outlay for sheepmeat producers.
"It allows you to look at animals as individual production units rather than mobs of two, three, four and five-year-olds," he said.
However, most sheep producers still wanted to know the costs before going ahead with NLIS. But the Australian Beef Association maintains the NLIS is "nothing more than management tool" and that it should be voluntary for all species.
"Electronic tags are a great management tool (but) the constant inference that the benefits of electronic tags are a result of NLIS is a fraud," ABA director John Niven said.
"There is always a commercial capacity to take advantage of innovation."
