Preliminary consultation meetings conducted so far have revealed that the overseeing Agriculture Department staff have limited knowledge of how the proposed new electronic identification (EID) sheep scanning system will function in each of the saleyards across the state.
An agent who attended the Bendigo consultation meeting held on Tuesday said “With no disrespect to the two department staff involved, but they are flying in the dark as they start from scratch to get their heads around what lies ahead.”
The agent, who wished to remain anonymous said: “We met for more than two hours and as agents we came away only a-little-bit the wiser.
“Frankly, they have no idea how the Bendigo saleyards or any other saleyards for that matter will implement the new system into existing yard operations.
“They couldn’t really tell us whether stock will be scanned once or twice. That decision will be made after the consultative period has concluded and will best be determined by agents and staff at the respective yards according to their operation.”
Ruralco southern operations livestock manager Robert Bolton also attended the Bendigo meeting, and said it was confirmed the onus to make the system work will be placed squarely on the shoulders of agents and saleyard operators.
“It’s nothing new or different to when electronic tagging and scanning were introduced to the cattle industry a decade ago,” Mr Bolton said. “The onus for the obligation to make it work will be legislated.”
He urged as many producers, stock agents, saleyard workers and transporters as possible to attend consultative meetings so the industry was not lumbered with a system that was unworkable, unfair, unsafe and not cost efficient. He said there had to be a high regard for human and animal welfare.
Western District agent Michael Kerr, Kerr Livestock, Hamilton, said stakeholders would not be opposed to implementing a system to safeguard the biosecurity of the sheep industry but the technology must work and be cost efficient to implement and maintain.
“In our situation at Hamilton where we offer 20-60,000 sheep/lambs three days per week for four to five months each year, any new technology must not interrupt the flow of our sales,” he said.
“To make it work in our situation it must cater for a saleyards that has 20-25 loading and unloading points that vary for B-Double transports to farm utilities.
“It must be workable for all operators in the supply chain including producers, agents, transporters and processors. And, the system must be user friendly so it doesn’t place extra work demands on yard staff or lengthen the time stock are held in the yards or moved around within the yards.”
