Fed: Aust sheep to be identified for first time
By Shane Wright
CANBERRA, Dec 10 AAP - Australia's 115 million sheep will soon be lining up for a newform of identification aimed at keeping the nation's clean and green reputation intact.
For the first time, producers are moving to a system that will enable consumers andprocessors to trace the origin of a sheep or lamb back to its home paddock.
It follows a similar effort by Australian beef producers, amid worldwide concerns abouttracing food products.
Sheepmeat Council of Australia executive director Scott Hansen said the outbreak offoot-and-mouth disease in Britain this year showed the importance of an identificationsystem.
He said British vets suffered unnecessary delays as they tried to learn the backgroundof an infected animal.
"They were immediately behind the black ball, trying to go through paperwork to findout where a sheep had come from," he told AAP.
"With this sort of system, you'll have a tag that will immediately tell you from whichproperty the animal has come."
At this stage the Australian identification system is likely to be an ear tag, althoughthe beef industry has developed an identifier that resides in the animal's stomach.
Both Britain and the United States have moved to identification systems in recent months.
Mr Hansen said as two of Australia's biggest markets had introduced identificationsystems, Australia had to move in the same direction.
"This is a pre-emptive move, but with the growing concerns about traceability we wouldhave to have gone down this path," he said.
Mr Hansen said the system would not be mandatory as the industry hoped commercial factorswould encourage farmers to take up identification of their flock.
Lambs that are sold direct from a property to an abattoir will be exempt from the system.
The system will be colour-coded, with different coloured tags for years of birth.
Victorian farmers, who produce more than 40 per cent of the nation's lamb, have alreadybacked the plan which will start from the end of February.
AAP sw/daw/pw/sb
KEYWORD: SHEEP
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