Federal traceability funding allocated to eID implementation, updated national database

By 2025, all lambs born will need to be fitted with an eID tag, with an aim to then work backwards and have all other livestock tagged by 2027, while completion of a national database was aimed for January 1, 2025.

During a tour of Keyneton Station in SA earlier this week, the Minister told Livestock SA president Joe Keynes that only lambs would need to be tagged by January 1.

It's the first time Minister Watt has flagged that other categories of stock, such as breeding ewes and rams, would not need to be tagged by the Jan 1, 2025 deadline.

"It wont be realistic to say every sheep and every lamb will need to have a tag on January 1, 2025 but what we want to say that is has begun," he said.

The $46M traceability funding package will be split into $20M for implementation and $26M for infrastructure, including a database, to help the sector reach a 2027 target for all livestock to be donning electronic identification tags.

Setting a date for a database was most important to the Minister.

"It did not matter what the words were leading to that date, it was the date that was most important," he said.

"It has not been decided exactly how the funding will be spent in this year's budget but using it for a national database seemed a pretty obvious way to do it."

But these are big changes and Minister Watt wanted producers to be comfortable with it.

"From a federal perspective, it was important to use the money in a way that benefits the entire country, if we were to provide ear tags for a few states, then not everyone gets the benefit of that.

"If we put in place the underlying infrastructure that every state and every farmer will need and use, then that seems like a good way to use federal money."

More to come.

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