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NLIS Sheep and Goats in Western Australia

What is NLIS (Sheep and Goats)?

NLIS or National Livestock Identification System is Australia's system for the identification and tracing of livestock. It is a permanent, whole-of-life identification system that enables animals to be tracked from property of birth through all changes of ownership and geographic location until they are sent for slaughter, are exported or die.

Why implement NLIS?

Previously, the only system for tracing sheep and goats was paper based. The animals were identified with a brand and the earmarks of the breeder. Subsequent owners could replace the tag with one bearing their own brand. Traceability was only possible if waybills had all brands recorded on the waybill and producers kept good records and copies of waybills. Animals for the most part could only be identified to the property of last dispatch.

AQIS and a growing number of markets require stock sent for live export to be identified by a tag to the last property of residence. In the future there will be a demand for whole of life identification.

The recent BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) cases in Japan, Canada and the USA have highlighted the need for a system that delivers lifetime traceability of all livestock.

Cost sharing agreements for management of exotic diseases require that industries have in place adequate tracing systems. The introduction of the NLIS for sheep and goats will go a long way to meeting this requirement and ensure the social and financial impact of any disease outbreak such as Foot and Mouth would be minimised.

The NLIS improves the speed and accuracy over the previous system. The key benefit of NLIS is to uphold Australia's reputation as a quality producer. It underpins the integrity and safety of our sheep and goat meat products on a world class scale.

How does NLIS work?

NLIS (sheep & goats) is a mob based identification using visually readable ear tags combined with a paper record, usually an NVD Waybill. Electronic identification tags are not required.

Sheep & Goats:

• sent from their property of birth must be identified with a year colour tag imprinted with the owner's brand.
• sent from a property on which they were not born must be identified with a pink ear tag imprinted with the owner's brand. All ear tags must remain in the animals.

For details of NLIS requirements affecting you please see the links to the fact sheets below

NLIS approved ear tags

The Chief Inspector of Stock approves tags for use as NLIS tags. The tags must meet standards of readability and must last for the life of the sheep. The approved tags are those that are currently undergoing testing in Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) trials.

NLIS Fact Sheets

• No. 1: Management of NLIS On-farm
• No. 2: Stock Agents
• No. 3: Requirements for saleyard operators
• No. 4: Purchasing sheep/goats
• No. 5: Selling sheep/goats
• No. 6: Transporting sheep/goats
• No. 7: Live Export Depots
• No. 8: Abattoirs
• No. 9: Agricultural Shows, Sporting Events, Transit Depots, Holding Yards
• No. 10: Pastoral Goats
• NLIS requirements for goats - September 2009

NLIS Exemption

The only exemption from NLIS Sheep and Goat requirements is for the movement of captured unmanaged pastoral goats from stations in small numbers not sufficient for truck loads and where facilities are not adequate to handle goats safely to tag them

A general exemption has been issued for captured unmanaged goats to be moved from within the pastoral area to approved depots in the pastoral area that are within 200km.

Depots receiving goats only from neighbouring stations do not require a permit as they are already exempt from the requirements by the regulations.

The exemption has been designed so that only the depot has to apply for approval and this only needs to be applied for once.

Nominated Inspectors
The following inspectors are nominated as inspectors to certify depots as approved depots for the purpose of Goat Identification Exemption Notice No 1:

• Goat Identification Exemption Notice (no.1) : Movement of Captured Unmanaged Goast in the Pastoral Area
• Application form and information for an approved pastoral goat depot
• Goat Identification Exemption Notice (no.2) 2007 : Registered Stud Dairy Goats
• Approved application form : Approved Pastoral Goat Depot
  
  

For further information on NLIS in Western Australia

Sheep and Goats: What you need to know provides a step-by-step view of all facets of sheep and goat ownership which will be valuable for both small landholders and experienced commercial farmers. Download the PDF or watch the streaming video.

Roy Butler, Department of Agriculture & Food, Merredin
Phone: (08) 9081 3110
Email: arbutler@agric.wa.gov.au

• NLIS Implementation Working Group members
• NLIS Officers in regional areas
• Tips on completing NVD-waybills in WA

For information on NLIS nationally: MLA website: www.mla.com.au

Department of Agriculture & Food website contact:

Suzy Norton, Department of Agriculture and Food,
South Perth
Phone: (08) 9368 3367
Email: suzanna.norton@agric.wa.gov.au

Page amended: October 2009