The National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) is a

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

identification and tracking system used in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is administered by Integrity Systems Company, which is a wholly owned

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

of Meat and Livestock Australia. The system uses Radiofrequency Identification Devices (

RFID Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder called a tag, a radio receiver, and a transmitter. When tri ...

) applied as ear tags to identify and track livestock, each assigned an individual and unique electronic and physical printed tag numbers. There is an associated central electronic database which is used to record each animal's residency and keep track of the other animals it has interacted with. The system improves food safety, acts as a market export assurance program which improves Australia's access to foreign export markets, and assists with disease control, tracing and management. Farmers must register their property with their local jurisdictional government if they hold one or more heads of livestock. Livestock includes cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, camels, deer, alpacas, llamas, horses and poultry; although State and Territory definitions of "livestock" may differ. NLIS does not confirm ownership of livestock. The system originates from a cattle-tracing system introduced in Australia in the 1960s to help fight bovine tuberculosis, which was officially successfully eradicated in Australia on 31 December 1997. The NLIS

system was introduced in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

on 1 July 2004, and in Queensland on 1 July 2005, replacing the previous tail tag system for cattle. The approved RFID devices used are the commonly used

ear tag An ear tag is a plastic or metal object used for identification of domestic livestock. If the ear tag uses Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) technology it is referred to as an electronic ear tag. Electronic ear tags conform to inter ...

s or alternatively a rumen bolus.Beef News April 2004, ''NLIS for improved ID and tracing'' Similar systems exist in other countries such as the National Animal Identification System in the United States, the British Cattle Movement Service and the proposed National Animal Identification and Tracing in New Zealand.

References

Identification of domesticated animals Livestock in Australia {{Agriculture-stub

See also

References