NLIS Cattle
NLIS (Cattle) is Australia’s system for identifying and tracking all cattle through their life. It is a permanent, whole-of-life identification system which aims to ensure that individual animals can be tracked from property of birth to slaughter for bio-security, food safety, and product integrity and market access purposes.
The NLIS system uses machine-readable, radio frequency identification devices (RFIDs) to identify cattle. An NLIS-approved device can be an ear tag or rumen bolus/ear tag combination. Each device contains a microchip encoded with a unique number linked to the property identification code (PIC) of the property of birth.
Cattle identified with NLIS devices can be electronically scanned as they move through the livestock chain. At the time of scanning, each owner’s PIC can be recorded and linked to the NLIS device. This transaction information is then stored in the secure, central NLIS database.
Once full transaction recording is in place, theoretically a life record of an animal’s residency, and other animals it has interacted with, can be established. The intention is that this centrally stored, electronic history of an individual animal’s residency will enable rapid and accurate traceability of all cattle in Australia.
The NLIS database operates in conjunction with the property registers in each state or territory. The property registers record the details of properties assigned PICs.
When integrated with post slaughter tracking systems, the NLIS database allows for rapid and accurate tracing of cattle in the event of a disease outbreak or residue incident.
Page updated: 29 September 2009