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NLIS Sheep and Goats in Western Australia
The National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) is Australia's system for identifying and tracing livestock. For sheep and goats, it enables tracing of their movements between properties and owners up until the point of slaughter or export.
NLIS allows Australia to maintain international market access for sheep and goats and to ensure rapid and accurate lifetime traceability in the event of disease outbreak or detection of a residue in meat, milk or fibre.
The central NLIS database records all livestock movements and is operated by NLIS Ltd, a subsidiary of Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA).
NLIS tags
All sheep and goats in WA must be identified by an accredited NLIS eartag imprinted with the NLIS logo and the current owner's brand before they are moved off the property or to a new owner.
Year tag colours - born on property
There is an eight year sequence of colours for eartags indicating the year of birth of the sheep or goats. The coloured year tag is placed in the right ear of females and the left ear of males. Tags must be applied by the first shearing or before movement off the property.
Pink tags - introduced onto property
Once a sheep or goat has changed ownership from that of the property of birth, a pink eartag imprinted with the brand of the current owner and NLIS logo must be placed in the opposite ear (left for females and right for males) before the animals are moved off the property, however applying pink tags on arrival is recommended to ensure traceability.
Year colour tags and subsequent pink tags must remain in the animal for life.
An animal will have only one year of birth coloured tag in the relevant ear but may have more than one pink tag in the other ear.
RFID electronic tags
Optional NLIS accredited radio frequency identification (RFID) tags/electronic tags are available.
Movement documentation
A waybill or combined National Vendor Declaration (NVD)/waybill must be completed before moving sheep and goats off a property. In the description box, it must state the brand of the current owner, as evident on the most recently applied tags of the stock consigned.
Mob-based movement (MBM) recording
Sheep and goat producers, export depot, saleyard and abattoir operators are required to record sheep and goat movements to their properties on the NLIS database.
One or more sheep or goats constitute a 'mob'. Any movements of mobs of sheep or goats between properties with different property identification codes (PICs) must be recorded on the NLIS database within 48 hours of the arrival of the animals at their destination property. This includes movements to agistment properties (The database entry reference to "individual" sheep/goats only applies to sheep or goats which are electronically identified).
The receiver (or purchaser) of sheep is responsible for entering the movement record except for sheep bought at auction. In that case the stock agent, or saleyard operatorwill record the MBM.
Stock owners who have an NLIS database account for cattle can use it to record sheep and goat movements.
For those without computer access, paper submission forms are obtainable from MLA for a small fee.
More Information
Pastoral goat NLIS identification exemption
NLIS exemptions apply to moving small numbers of unmanaged pastoral goats that are not sufficient for full truck loads from stations and where facilities are not adequate to handle the goats to safely apply NLIS tags.
This exemption allows for movement of unmanaged goats from within the pastoral area to approved depots within 200km. The exemption permit has been designed so that the receiving depot applies for it on behalf of the stations and it only needs to be applied for once.
| Nominated Inspectors to certify depots | Region | Phone | Fax | |
| Bob | Vassallo | Bunbury | 9780 6203 | 9780 6136 |
| Bill | Gorrie | Kalgoorlie | 9088 6019 | 9091 9854 |
Registered stud dairy goats NLIS identification exemption
Goats identified with registered goat identifiers and recorded in the Australian Dairy Goat Stud Register are exempt from NLIS tagging.
Contacts
Brands Office Bunbury, for Brand and PIC information, (08) 9780 6100 or email brands@agric.wa.gov.au
LPA NVD Hotline 1800 683 111 or lpa@mla.com.au
NLIS Helpdesk 1800 654 743 or nlis.support@mla.com.au or www.mla.com.au
Useful links
- Farmnote Registering and updating a brand
- Farmnote Livestock identification and movement: sheep and goats
Last updated 1 May 2013
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