Farmers, pastoralists and small landholders get more choice from January 1 2022 about how their livestock are identified, with earmarking of cattle and sheep and branding of cattle becoming optional.
National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) tagging will remain mandatory for both cattle and sheep, however, the timeframe for applying an NLIS electronic device to cattle will change.in WA
The changes to the Biosecurity and Agriculture Management (Identification and Movement of Stock and Apiaries) Regulations 2013 are being made after extensive industry consultation.
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) product integrity manager Brad McCormick said there had been majority support for making earmarking and branding optional and giving producers more choice.
“Earmarking and branding have historically been used to support proof of livestock ownership but they are limited in their benefit to traceability, as they do not reflect changes in stock ownership or movements between properties,” he said.
“Thanks to the introduction of NLIS, earmarking and branding no longer provide a useful biosecurity function for tracing the more than 28,000 livestock movements that occur in WA each day.
“The changes to the regulations mean producers can choose whether to use these identifiers or not – your livestock, your choice.”
Dr McCormick said livestock producers could continue to earmark or brand their stock if they wished to do so.
“Stock owners can still use earmarking and branding as part of their farm management practices if they see benefits, such as for visually identifying the owner of livestock or to discourage stock theft,” he said.
“The current stock owner registration system will be maintained and every registered owner will still be given their own unique brand and earmark.
“It will remain an offence to use someone else’s registered identifiers or to create marks that cause confusion.”
To ensure animals can still be identified in the absence of mandatory earmarking or branding, new timeframes are being introduced for applying NLIS devices to cattle and buffalo.