Electronic identification (eID) for sheep and goats
Electronic identification (eID) tags are replacing visual tags for sheep and farmed goats.
Moving from the visual tag and mob-based system to eID will greatly improve the accuracy and efficiency of livestock traceability.
South Australia is working with the Federal and State Governments and industry to transition to eID.
South Australia's eID implementation timeline
eID tagging
| When | Who | What's required |
|---|---|---|
| 1 January 2025 | Producers | Sheep and farmed goats born on or after 1 January 2025 will need to be identified with an NLIS-accredited eID tag before leaving their property of birth. |
| 1 January 2027 | Producers | All other sheep and farmed goats leaving a property will need to be identified with an NLIS-accredited eID tag. |
eID scanning and recording movements
| When | Who | What's required |
|---|---|---|
| 1 January 2025 | Processors | Processors must be ready to scan sheep and farmed goats identified with eID tags and record individual movements on the NLIS database. |
| 1 January 2025 | Producers | Producers who conduct property to property (P2P) movements must be ready to scan sheep and farmed goats identified with eID tags and record individual movements on the NLIS database. |
| 1 July 2025 | Saleyards | Saleyard operators must be ready to scan sheep and farmed goats identified with eID tags and record individual movements on the NLIS database. |
Support for SA producers and industry
The Government of South Australia has committed funding to support the first stage of eID for sheep and farmed goats.
eID tag discount at point of sale
Discounted eID tags will be available to South Australian sheep and goat producers from 1 January 2024.
An agreement has been made to provide a $0.95 discount per NLIS accredited tag with these manufacturers:
- Allflex Australia
- Datamars
- Enduro Tags
- Leader Products
- Shearwell
The discount will be applied by the retailer or tag manufacturer at the time of purchase. As a producer, you should not need to complete an application form or any additional paperwork.
The discount applies to NLIS accredited eID tags aligned to the year-of-birth colour system:
- black eID tags for 2024 (discount available from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024)
- white eID tags for 2025 (discount available from 1 January 2025 to 30 June 2025).
You must have an active property identification code (PIC) to be eligible for the discounted tags.
The point-of-sale discount is targeted at producers with breeding stock being kept beyond 1 January 2027, and for sheep and goats born on or after 1 January 2025, in line with national start dates.
eID device rebate (2023)
A rebate is available for sheep and farmed goat producers who have purchased 2023 (sky blue) NLIS-accredited eID tags between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2023.
See eID Device Rebates for eligibility criteria and to apply.
Applications close 30 April 2024 at 5 pm.
Essential infrastructure support
The Government of South Australia will support 75% of the cost of essential infrastructure required by saleyards and processors for implementing eID across the supply chain.
See Sheep and Goat eID Implementation Essential Equipment and Infrastructure Rebate (saleyards and processors) for eligibility and application guidelines.
Subscribe to the mailing list for notifications about eID implementation requirements and support.
Requirements for producers
For many producers, the only change will be switching from a visual tag to an eID device. Most eID tags can be applied with the same applicator as used with visual tags.
The year-of-birth colour system for eID tags remains voluntary in SA and is used by most producers for management purposes.
eID tags range in price, depending on the type and manufacturer. See the accredited NLIS devices for sheep and goats (PDF) that can be used.
Sheep and goat producers may not need to purchase tag reading equipment. However, access to a scanner may be necessary if you:
- move stock between different property identification codes
- buy stock privately (with or without an agent)
- want to use eID for stock management purposes.
Harvested rangeland goats
Harvested rangeland goats will continue to access tag-free pathways from property of capture direct to processor or approved goat depot with required movement documentation.
Benefits of eID
eID devices, also known as tags, contain a radio frequency identifier (RFID) microchip that can be read using a handheld scanning wand or panel reader. This allows animals to be individually identified through the NLIS.
The eID technology is well developed and was first implemented for cattle in South Australia in 2004.
Many SA sheep and goat producers are already using eID technology to assist with on-farm management and production decisions. Victoria introduced mandatory eID for sheep and goats in 2017.
Moving from the visual tag and mob-based approach to individual eID will improve the accuracy and efficiency of livestock traceability.
Strengthen biosecurity efforts
Strengthen biosecurity efforts
A national approach to tracking individual sheep and goats will ensure our world-leading traceability systems remain fit for purpose.
Using eID will reduce the time required to manage an emergency animal disease or food safety incident. This allows us to respond to and recover from an outbreak, such as foot and mouth disease (FMD).
Improve market access
Improve market access
Access to export markets is critical to the success of Australia’s sheep and goat industries, with overseas markets taking:
- over 70% of national sheep meat production
- 95% of goat production
- 98% of wool production.
Reducing the time that Australia is locked out of export markets following an animal disease outbreak will reduce the financial impact across the sheep and goat supply chain.
See the Where’s Woolly video below, highlighting the benefits of individual eID livestock traceability.
Transcript
Transcript
A story of mob-based movement vs eID tracing
Under the current national system, we track sheep and goats as mobs from property to property, using property identification codes, PICs.
Let's look at how we currently track our sheep and farmed goats under our mob-based movement system, meet Woolly.
Woolly the sheep lives on River Run Farm with 630 others.
Woolly's being moved to Wattle Downs Farm, along with 400 other sheep. Wattle Downs, Farm houses 1,300 sheep, including a few rams, which the owner bought from a breeder.
Sometime later, Wattle Downs decides to move a number of their sheep off the property.
60 sheep are sent to the abattoir, where 1,400 others have already been delivered.
75 sheep are sent to Shady Tree Farmstead, where there are already 575 head on property.
170 sheep are sent to a sale yard to be sold with 6,200 others. 500 sheep from that sale yard and moved to a feedlot housing 8,000 more sheep.
Finally, approximately 1,200 feedlot sheep are moved to an export depot where there are already 21,000 sheep.
But wait, where's Woolly?
Just through Woolly's potential journey, we've come into contact with about 40,280 sheep.
It's at this point we find out that the rams which were brought onto Wattle Downs Farm, where Woolly had been living, were carrying a disease.
Since we don't know where Woolly ended up or even if she is still at Wattle Downs, we have to trace all movements of all sheep off Wattle Downs Farm through all possible paths that the disease could have flowed through.
We also learned that the same breeder which sold the rams to Wattle Downs, sold to 26 other properties.
We now have to multiply all of these traces by 26.
That's 1,047,280 potentially exposed sheep and more than 130 pathways to follow.
But let's just look at finding Woolly in this instance.
If Woolly had been tagged with an eID tag with a unique electronic number, we would have been able to trace her and the others from Wattle Downs as individual sheep. Rather than needing to follow all the potential pathways they could have travelled down and all the other sheep they could have come into contact with.
Having individual eID allows us to find Woolly.
The time to contain a disease is reliant on the rate of traceability available. As a component of the whole system, eID helps us to trace specific stock, and know which others had contact with them, improving our rate of detection, containment and response.
eID advisory groups
A South Australian eID Industry Advisory Committee (IAC) has been established to provide industry expertise, input and feedback to PIRSA for stage 1 of the sheep and goat eID implementation project.
National task force
The Sheep and Goat Traceability Task Force (SGTTF) was established following the in-principle agreement for government to implement an eID system. It includes representatives from:
- national peak industry bodies
- SAFEMEAT
- the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
- state and territory governments.
The SGTTF focuses on national issues, such as maintaining consistency between the states and ensuring the NLIS database can manage the roll out.
It is not a decision-making body, but provides advice through the National Biosecurity Committee.
More information
More information
Fact sheets
- eID for sheep and goat traceability – Information for SA producers ()
- eID tag tips ()
- Sheep and goat eID device rebate ()
- The 5 whys on electronic identification (PDF)
- NLIS: how to move livestock onto or off a PIC (PDF)