EXCLUSIVE: ELECTRONIC tags could become mandatory for Victorian sheep producers.
The Victorian Government appears to be pushing even harder for electronic tags in the wake of explosive comments made last week by a major processor, doubting the reliability of the current visual system.
Electronic scanners will be installed at the Bendigo and Horsham Livestock Exchanges this week and scanning of electronic NLIS sheep tags would be trialed in coming weeks, Agriculture Minister Joe Helper said.
But the Government's moves have been scorned by Sheepmeat Council of Australia, which backs the lower-cost visual tag system.
Last week Australia's largest processor, Swift Australia, claimed NLIS sheep-goats tagging and trace-back was failing and as a result they were turning away from buying stock through saleyards.
Swift Australia's Steve Chapman was quoted saying the NLIS sheep-goat mob-based National Vendor Declarations "do not function well enough to buy all lamb requirements through the saleyards".
The Weekly Times asked the DPI if they were concerned about the reliability of NLIS sheep tagging, and whether the DPI view electronic tags as a better option.
Mr Helper said there was evidence the visual tags and paper tracing system "may not operate effectively in a disease emergency".
"Questions have been raised by industry about the ability of the current system to meet future requirements of overseas customers," Mr Helper said.
"We're confident that (electronic) scanners work reliably, so trials will focus on the most efficient way to scan large numbers of sheep."
But Sheepmeat Council of Australia president Kate Joseph has hit back at the Victorian Government, saying the current system was not failing and the deficiencies it had could be fixed.
Ms Joseph said the Government had failed to properly resource the system or act in its compliance role and were trying to forge ahead and leave the rest of the nation behind.
She said it was up to producers to fill in NVDs correctly, "if they do that we won't be forced down the RFID path".
Ms Joseph said she was confident the current system could work, if producers complied with the rules and the Victorian Government backed the scheme.
DPI animal standards manager Tony Britt said Victorian saleyards sometimes handled 50,000 sheep or more at a sale so the challenges were as considerable as they were when the cattle system was in its infancy in the late 1990s.
Animal Health Australia is also due release a report comparing the costs and benefits of fixing the current system, versus moving progressively to an electronic system, next month.
