This presence can only be seen in a positive light, reinforcing the strong stance against the rapidly rising occurrence of livestock theft.

Police will be checking livestock and NVDs upon arrival, with this responsibility also resting on sale yard operators, to ensure the positive reputation of the industry is upheld.

With Victoria currently undertaking the sheep and goat electronic tagging trial for the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS), the rest of Australia awaits the results with a varying degree of opinions.

The foundation of the NLIS tagging is to provide transparent information for the end “user” which continues to bolster the growing trend of the “paddock to plate” concept.

For many it is seen as additional costs placed on the primary producer, which will be difficult to recover.   

From July 1 2017 Victorian sale yards, abattoirs and knackeries will commence scanning all sheep and goats delivered to their operations, with the information uploaded to the NLIS database.

From March 2018 scanning of electronic tags will be compulsory for saleyards in Victoria.

While electronic tagging of cattle has occurred for over a decade, what will be interesting to see is how sale- yard operations handle the new software and infrastructure required to electronically scan sheep and goats.

As we move further in to the depths of winter the roof and soft floor offered at SELX is providing strong evidence for vendors with livestock losing less yield and achieving better meat quality and sales results.