It is less than two years until January 1 2025 - the date the nation's agriculture ministers agreed upon for the roll out of mandatory individual electronic identification in sheep flocks and farmed goat herds.
But it still a long road ahead here to convince plenty of SA producers about the need for it.
Last week, Mount Burr prime lamb producer Duan Williams, who is a member of the SA Sheep and Goat Traceability Steering Committee - the group of supply chain representatives tasked with developing an implementation plan for SA and recommendations on how it should be funded - spoke out in frustration.
He joined the committee in September in "good faith" but claims the group had a "pre-determined agenda" and was using national harmonisation as an excuse for mandating eID rather than its goal of finding the best way forward for SA producers.
He says the committee quickly dismissed his push for a tag exemption for full truckloads of vendor-bred lambs and/or sheep consigned from the property of birth direct to an abattoir.
Since writing an open letter to SA sheep producers highlighting his tag exemption idea, he says he has received support from producers representing hundreds of thousands of sheep.
He has organised a public meeting at the Lucindale Bowling Club on Friday, January 13 at 3pm to garner further support. This will also be attended by Livestock SA chief executive officer Travis Tobin and other reps.
Mr Williams says he felt like the "sole voice" representing producers on the committee and that his "opinion didn't matter" but Mr Tobin has strongly disagreed with these claims.
Mr Tobin says SA had "open and transparent consultation" with many opportunities for producers to have their say.
The committee was selected by the Livestock SA board from nominations from across the supply chain and comprises four full time producers as well as the independent chair, former MP Peter Treloar who is an Eyre Peninsula producer.
Another six members have interests in livestock production as well as their industry representative roles.
There is also one agent and one processor on the committee.
Mr Williams acknowledges there may be management benefits for some using eID in their flocks but cannot see any for prime lamb producers like himself in putting e tags in a four to six month old lamb being sold on hooks, which will add to landfill.
He estimates the cost of the tags alone to be upwards of $1500 per B-double load of lambs.
"Lamb producers can't utilise individual feedback on their lambs from the abattoir and I would refute the benefit of having this for each of the 700 carcases," he said.
Mr Williams cannot see how a truckload of sheep or lambs moved from farm to an abattoir cannot already be fully traceable.
Therefore he proposed an exemption for these direct consignments, which he says was "shot down" by other steering committee members on claims of the need for greater traceability and market access demands without evidence to support these claims.
"If the processors are claiming that they need eID tags to maintain traceability through the supply chain, what has been happening for the last three or four decades? Are they admitting that lambs have been killed in the wrong consignments for all this time?" he said.
"If that is the case why haven't they done anything about it before?
"The processors are pushing this because to them this solves any problems with lambs jumping pens in their lairages by having the farmer pay for it."
Mr Williams has also not seen any proof of export market advantage with Vic producers not receiving any more money for their lambs than SA producers.
But Mr Tobin says Australian red meat is traded on a national not state or regional basis so premiums for individual animals may not be obvious.
"If Australia wants to access the most discerning and financially rewarding markets, it needs to have world leading integrity systems and processes," he said.
Mr Tobin said Mr Williams' written proposal for the direct to slaughter tag exemption was received late in the process after consultation but had been well discussed. Any economic analysis on potential exemptions was "outside of the scope of the committee".
Mr Tobin says the steering committee's priority has been developing a "robust business case" by March to ensure SA is able to gain a good share of the $20 million pledged in the federal budget for the national roll out.
"Everything is moving pretty fast, we need to be ready and have a good understanding of the costs and how they should be shared and how we can get as much of the federal government funding and then leverage it with state government money," he said.
Mr Tobin said exemptions were a "side issue", which could still be discussed, and stressed that Livestock SA had not "landed on a position" on any sheep exemptions.
He said direct to abattoir exemptions were raised several times during the industry survey completed by nearly 700 respondents, as well as other consultation including site visits, interviews and group discussions.
However Mr Tobin said the majority of responses had recognised the need for all sheep to be tagged nationally for it to be a success.
He says with the state ag ministers reiterating their commitment to "national harmonisation", any exemptions proposed by SA would need the support of all the other states, including Vic.
"We know Duan wants this and a few others but we need to find out whether there are the critical numbers of support and the likelihood of being able to sell it to the other states," he said.
"We also need to be mindful that it is a decision of government not industry, the reality from everything we have heard is that they are looking for consistent business rules."
The only exemption that the states are believed to be in agreeance on is rangeland goats.
Primary Industries Minister Clare Scriven will meet with Livestock SA and PIRSA staff later this month to discuss the steering committee's business case findings and any industry concerns.
She says these recommendations will guide the state government's policy outcomes.
"The Steering Committee is considering all options for implementation in SA, noting that agriculture ministers have agreed to work towards implementing a system that is nationally consistent," she said. "Currently there are no other jurisdictions or national industry livestock sectors that support tagging exemptions for sheep."
- For more details on the Lucindale meeting contact Duan on 0428 348 210 or email duan.w@bigpond.com
