You will need this registration if you intend to have a livestock identifier that marks your ownership. Livestock include cattle, sheep, horses and pigs. A livestock identifier can be:
- a body brand (cattle, sheep and horses)
- an ear mark (cattle and sheep)
- a management tag (cattle)
- a tattoo (pigs).
Livestock identification is essential for enabling livestock to be traced. Traceability delivers food safety assurances for customers and consumers, and is critical in the management of emergency livestock disease responses.
As the person in charge of livestock you are obliged to:
- brand cattle and sheep with a registered earmark the age of 6 months
- tattoo the shoulder of all pigs over 10 weeks of age with a registered body tattoo within 7 days of that animal leaving your property for sale or slaughter.
The use of body branding for sheep, cattle and horses and body tags for cattle is optional, however if used they must be registered. Please note there are specifications for the design and dimensions of earmarks, body brands, management tags and tattoos.
