This is my final blog about Australia and it is devoted
entirely to the National Livestock Identification System that Australia has put
into place to identify their cattle. The first stop of the trip was at the
Department of Primary Industries, Victoria and was a reoccurring theme
throughout the entire trip. Every animal that leaves the property from where
they were born are scanned into their system and they are able to pull up where
the animal has been and the other animals they have interacted with. If a
disease were to break out in Australia they would be able to track the origin
of the animal within a couple of hours. This would give them a distinct
advantage if a disease outbreak were to occur because they would be able to
look back and trace where the animal had been and what other cattle the animal
in question had been in contact with. (This could all occur in a couple of
hours, whereas in the US it may take days.) If the disease were detrimental to
the national herd this would cause less of an uproar because this might cut
down on the number of animals that potentially might have to be killed.
This program was government supported and they were able to
get the best possible deal with the manufactures of the tag for the producers.
This encouraged costs to be minimal to the producers. Also, they have different
colored tags to be placed in the ear for the birthplace of the animal and then
one that could be placed in the ear if for some reason the tag is lost. This
signals that there is partial information on that particular animal. At no time
can the animal have 2 tags. At this time only cattle are mandatorily traced
through this system. Some sheep are tracked, however, this is strictly
voluntary at this time. However, there is a push to turn it mandatory.
At the moment some people use an electronic tracking devices
but it is not an industry-wide or countrywide practice in the US. As consumers
become more conscience of food safety the ability to have lifetime traceability
becomes more and more important. This is one way where I definitely envision
the US beef industry being improved as far as their traceability and tracking
of beef animals.