The importance of eID for traceability
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The video emphasizes that electronic Identification (EID) systems are now critical for maintaining access to international export markets, particularly given that most lamb production is destined for overseas buyers. The speaker argues that without a robust traceability system, the industry faces severe financial consequences during exotic disease outbreaks, which can lead to a national standstill where producers and agents cannot sell stock. In such scenarios, the vast majority of economic losses stem from lost market access rather than direct costs, meaning farmers bear the brunt of these failures. Consequently, there is an urgent need for a system that allows for the rapid identification and eradication of disease outbreaks to quickly reopen export channels and protect farmers' livelihoods.
A significant advantage of transitioning from paper-based records to EID technology is the dramatic improvement in efficiency and accuracy by removing reliance on manual human input. The transcript highlights how reading tags and uploading data manually could take weeks or months, whereas EID systems can trace animals and their contact cohorts within hours. Beyond disease control, this automation transforms daily business operations; for instance, while it previously took two days to determine mating decisions for ewes, the current system allows farmers with more than double the flock size to complete the same task in a single day. As sheep pass through automatic drafters, data such as weight is collected automatically, enabling better breeding decisions and streamlining the entire processing workflow.
Consumer expectations have also shifted, with customers becoming increasingly discerning about the origin of their food, how animals were treated, and the specific processing facilities used. Certain international markets will not accept products unless total traceability is guaranteed, a requirement that has evolved from sending single lambs to specific markets to distributing processed goods to nineteen different countries. The ability to instantly identify escaped animals and return them to their rightful owners further demonstrates the practical benefits of EID tags linked to individual ownership. These capabilities ensure that premium products can be maintained in global markets by providing the transparency that modern consumers and regulators demand.
Ultimately, while there is an initial phasing period involving challenges and adjustments during the transition to mandatory EID, the long-term benefits for the entire industry and the country are undeniable. The national implementation of this technology serves as a vital tool for managing risks, enhancing operational speed, and securing future market access. By adopting these systems, the agricultural sector can move forward with confidence, knowing that they have the infrastructure necessary to handle disease outbreaks effectively and meet the rigorous standards required by global trade partners. Everyone in the industry should recognize that this shift is not just a regulatory requirement but a strategic advantage that ensures sustainability and growth for years to come.
Read the full video transcript
[music]
>> Most of our lamb is exported these days,
and so we've got to have the
traceability to maintain those markets.
And if we fail to do that, it's going to
cost the industry big [music] time in
the long run.
>> In an exotic disease outbreak, we will
go through a national standstill.
Producers can't sell stock, agents can't
sell [music] stock. Even for us as
consultants, everything comes to a
grinding halt in that moment. And when
we hear some of these numbers thrown
around about what an exotic disease
outbreak might cost [music] us as an
industry, the vast majority of that is
in our lost markets. And the vast
majority of that money is coming out of
farmers' pockets. So, the farmers and
and the rest of us in the industry, we
should be desperate for a traceability
[music] system that actually helps us
nail these exotic disease outbreaks as
quickly as possible so that we can prove
that it's eradicated and get our export
markets opened up as quickly as possible
we can.
>> [music]
>> We're in the process of moving from a
paper-based system that relies heavily
on human input into something that's
significantly more efficient [music] and
timely in our ability to trace animals
and the cohorts that they've had contact
with. The introduction of EID takes so
much of that human element away that
drastically improves the accuracy and
the
>> [music]
>> the efficiency of the whole process.
>> If we get an exotic disease, um we'll be
able to trace it back far quicker than
we could before [music]
when we're only reading the tags and
hopefully people had uploaded the data
and stuff, [music] which could take
weeks, months. Where with EID, it's a
matter of hours.
>> Whilst the EID is actually a
requirement, it's a great opportunity to
actually start finding those extra ways
to improve your business through data
collection. So, we're not actually
manually entering data, which gives us a
great degree of accuracy. And as the
animals run through the auto drafter,
we're able to collect a weight on them
each time. It's simple to feed into the
system to actually make better breeding
decisions.
Going back before we started with EID,
it would take us 2 days to actually work
out the mating decisions for the ewes.
Now, we've got more than twice as many
sheep and we're able to do it all in one
day.
>> In the background, you'll see that we
have our scanners, which are three-way
Hamilton drafts. The agents, as they're
categorizing the mobs, they run through
a three-way drafter, and that is
capturing the data that we need. They
move those around occasionally, and when
they move a mob, the actual EID numbers
go with them. Our main thing is at the
end of the sale, we have to upload the
data to the NLIS. The overall time to
process the sale, I believe, would be
less.
>> [music]
>> If we have a sheep that escapes, we get
them in. I can get my hand wand, and I
know who belongs to them straight away,
and I can give them back to the rightful
owner.
>> [music]
>> The customers and the consumers are
being far more discerning nowadays than
what we've ever seen. They're wanting to
know where their product has come from,
how it's been treated, [music] and how
we actually process that animal through
our processing facilities. Certain
markets [music] will not accept our
product unless we have got total
traceability on the product.
If we look back 10, 15, 20 years ago, we
used [music] to put one lamb in a box
and send it to a market. Nowadays, those
lambs [music] that we process here could
go to 19 different countries. So, the
ability for us to be able to trace those
lambs absolutely helps us maintain that
market access, [music] and also helps us
maintain those premium products into
those markets.
>> [music]
>> There's always a phasing period where
you have issues and you work through.
But in the end, what we've done
nationally [music]
with mandatory EID, it it is only of a
benefit to us as a industry and us as a
country going [music] forward and
everyone should see it that way.