eID for meat processors

Tagging

All sheep and farmed goats must be identified with a NLIS accredited device before arriving at the processing facility.

• Sheep and farmed goats born on or after 1 January 2025 should arrive at the facility with an eID tag. Stock born prior to this date may arrive with either visual or eID tags or possibly both.
• From 1 January 2027 all sheep and farmed goats must arrive with an eID tag.

Farmed goats can be identified with an NLIS accredited leg band or hock strap, instead of an ear tag. Leg bands will most commonly used to identify some dairy breeds and earless goat breeds.

Accredited harvested rangeland goats that arrive direct from the property of capture or registered goat depot are not required to be identified with an eID or visual device. This tag free pathway is permitted through the national Harvest Rangeland Goat accreditation scheme.

Any other untagged stock must be reported to a PIRSA Animal Biosecurity inspector within 24 hours.

Recording movement

From 1 January 2025, all electronically identified sheep and farmed goats that arrive at a processor must be scanned and recorded on the NLIS database.

Visually identified sheep and goats born prior to this date can continue to be recorded as a mob-based movement on the NLIS database.

Harvested rangeland goats must continue to be recorded as a mob-based movement on the NLIS database.

All sheep and goats moving from a property to a South Australian processor must be accompanied with a movement document and sheep also require a National Sheep Health Declaration. The most commonly used movement documents are the National Vendor Declaration (NVD), eNVD or HRG eNVD. This includes livestock arriving from interstate.

Post sale summaries are required for sheep and goat consignments arriving from a saleyard.

Sheep and goats cannot be processed without correct movement documentation.

The processor must read the eID device either electronically or visually and update the NLIS database with a report containing the following details:

• from PIC
• NLIS or radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag number for each animal
• body or carcass number and the chain number (if more than one chain)
• slaughter date
• movement record serial number
• species
• number of head in the lot/consignment
• establishment or accreditation number of the abattoir or slaughterhouse (this is provided automatically at log-on to the website – these numbers are linked in the database to the PIC for the abattoir).

To report to the NLIS database, processor must have a processor NLIS account. To register for a processor account visit the NLIS website.

For more information, watch the recorded webinar Using the NLIS Buddy app for processors.

Watch the AgShows and Events eID Refresh webinar.