The National Animal Identification and Tracing project (NAIT) started in April 2006. Its purpose is to develop a universal livestock identification system, supported by a core registry of data that links people, property and animals.

NAIT will improve New Zealand's ability to respond to biosecurity alerts by allowing affected animals and properties to be identified quickly.

The faster and more effective the response, the quicker we will be able to limit the spread of the disease and demonstrate to trading partners that all potentially infected animals have been contained - thus limiting the impact on trade.

A robust national tracing system will also provide assurance to consumers and international markets that we can trace our meat products from the paddock to plate.

International markets are increasingly demanding traceability of meat products. Earlier this year, the European Union banned Brazilian beef imports after Brazil's animal health and traceability systems failed to meet EU requirements.

New Zealand's existing animal identification systems are inadequate. They work fine for their own purposes, such as controlling bovine Tb. But it is clear that, faced with increasing market expectations, it would be better to have a single national system for all traceability requirements.

Industry and the Government weighed up a number of options before arriving at a consensus position on NAIT.

An initial cost-benefit analysis, although only indicative, showed that NAIT would produce a return of $1.86 to $2.50 for every dollar invested. This was a very positive result, given the analysis used very conservative assumptions about the value that NAIT will add to New Zealand's meat products. For example, it did not consider how NAIT would reduce the cost of re-establishing market access following a major biosecurity scare.

The NAIT governance group recognises the need for a more detailed cost benefit analysis work to justify the worth of the proposed system to industry and individual farmers. This work is underway.

NAIT tags will be incorporated into other official identification schemes. As a result a two-tag scheme will initially operate. The aim is to move to a single tag for all official purposes by 2013.

Four years ago, industry approached the Government to work together to improve animal traceability in New Zealand.  

The NAIT governance and working groups have spent the last couple of years identifying the requirements of processors (dairy and meat), farmers, industry representative organisations and government agencies to pull together a discussion document that outlines how the new system could run.

The design features, processes, and roles and responsibilities outlined in the discussion document are only a proposal at this stage.

Consultation is underway to test and fine-tune the thinking.

The Government has approved, in principle, its support for NAIT and the related FarmsOnline project to build a registry of rural property information. It has made funding available for both projects, subject to its approval of detailed business cases that will contain the finalised design proposals.

The on-farm benefits of technology utilising RFID include accurate recording of production details about individual animals and using this data on those animals to support management decisions.

The uses may include regularly weighing animals to sell at optimum individual weight, tracking treatments, recording breeding information, and measuring milk production. RFID also supports automatic drafting out of animals that meet pre-defined conditions.

To gain on farm benefits, farmers will need a further investment in technology (for example RFID readers and software).

NAIT will initially only record cattle and deer movements. This will limit the biosecurity benefits of NAIT should there be an outbreak of a multispecies disease, such as foot and mouth disease, which infects sheep and other species not yet included.

However, the proposed FarmsOnline register of rural properties will help plug the gap. The intention is for the register to provide accurate farm location, ownership, management, and stock information for farms of all kinds within New Zealand. It will bring together and improve the information currently collected and maintained by various government and industry bodies.

In addition, the NAIT system will provide the infrastructure capable of capturing improved movement and/or location information about other livestock.

Other livestock will be added to the system if and when appropriate.

Cattle and deer are the first focus of NAIT because they are already included in mandatory animal identification schemes under the National Bovine Tuberculosis Pest Management Strategy.

However, to manage biosecurity risks, it is important to create a system that enables the tracing of other species. The system will be designed to allow other livestock sectors to be added when and as appropriate. No decision, however, has been made about whether any other species will indeed be included or when or how this may take place. For example, recording of mob rather than individual movements may be sufficient for some animals.

Farmers will need to:

• ensure all cattle and deer are tagged with a NAIT-approved tag;
• record all animals onto the NAIT database either themselves or through a third-party;
• notify NAIT of all farm-to-farm animal movements.

Approved third parties will provide services to Farmers and NAIT to ensure there is NO duplication of effort on-farm

Processors will be required to record the receipt of all cattle and deer into their processing facilities, and confirm the date of slaughter and other details for electronic transfer to the NAIT database.  Farmers sending animals directly to slaughter will be able to leave recording of the animal and movement details on NAIT to approved processors.

Saleyards will need to record the receipt and dispatch of all cattle and deer and confirm the date of transactions and other details (e.g. ownership transfer and individual animal ID) to the NAIT database.  Farmers sending animals to, or purchasing animals at, NAIT-approved saleyards will be able to leave recording of the animal and movement details to the saleyard operator.

Transporters, drovers and anyone moving animals will be required to record transition points where animals are unloaded for consolidation with other mobs, for new transport arrangements, or when overnighting in a secure carriage on a long haul.

Parties will still need to comply with existing regulations and schemes (e.g. for Tb, HGP's, imported animals, and in respect of Animal Status Declaration forms).  Existing industry recording systems will continue largely as before.

Cattle and deer farmers should be able to adopt NAIT-compliant RFID tags as the secondary tags currently required for bovine Tb purposes. It not expected that farmers will need to use a third tag for their cattle and deer.

As it stands, the cost to farmers of introducing the electronic tags, based on conservative estimates, will be around $2 or $3 per animal. The price, however, of RFID technology, is dropping, so the cost is likely to be less. In addition, the cost to farmers would decrease markedly if a single tag were to be adopted in the future to cover all identification requirements. Progression to a single tag is a medium-term goal of NAIT.

Farmers will not be required to buy readers. But some farmers may be interested in other efficiencies offered by RFID technology, for example recording breeding information and tracking which animals have been treated. To do this, farmers may have to buy a reader costing between $1000 and $2000.

NAIT's position is to go with technology that is already in use overseas, meets international guidelines and is widely available. In short, NAIT is a technology adopter, not a developer.

Low-frequency RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Device) tagging is recognised internationally as a key foundation technology for comprehensive animal identification and traceability. There have been recent discussions about the relative merits of different frequencies, particularly ultra high-frequency, used in RFID ear tags for individual animal identification.  

NAIT is pleased to see progress with this technology, but at this point cannot endorse it until it is proven and accepted. We remain open to accepting it in the future.

Radio frequency identification devices (or RFIDs) are electronic tags that emit radio signals that can be read by special readers, therefore eliminating the need for manual data entry. 

RFID is used in other countries with animal identification systems.  The NAIT Governance Group is keen to ensure the NAIT system is based primarily on RFID tags for cattle and deer. To that end, RFID will be introduced via existing official animal identification schemes and will become regulated for cattle by 2011 (with deer at that time or shortly after, once RFID for deer is fully field tested).

Yes.  The current rules around the identification of animals for bovine Tb purposes, under the MINDA scheme, for imported animals and for HGP-treated animals will continue to apply.  NAIT will set some additional new requirements:

• All cattle and deer will have to be tagged with a NAIT-approved tag (this tag can meet secondary tag requirements of current official schemes).
• The animals must be tagged within three months of their birth, or at the time of first contact (whichever comes first).
• The animals must be tagged prior to the animal's first movement regardless of age. The only planned exception is for calves less than 30-days-old going directly to slaughter.

NAIT will only work if the information held on it remains reliable and as complete and current as possible. To maintain high-quality data, a number of features and requirements have been built into the NAIT design, including:

• using existing credible data sources to reduce additional administrative burden;
• making it a legal requirement for the submission of data within defined time periods;
• augmenting existing requirements of users, rather than replacing systems;
• providing a range of methods for uploading data;
• keeping the costs of uploading data low;
• use of technology to automate animal recording, thus reducing manual error;
• having functionality built into NAIT so it can be "switched on" quickly if needed;
• providing clear rules and standards for universal adoption, but with some flexibility so those rules can be changed as technology and circumstances change;
• having validation of data built into processes to manage data quality risks; and
• designing NAIT as an enabling system, to support other information needs.

For additional questions and answers please refer to www.nait.org.nz

The system will operate with very strict rules governing who have access to the data and how it can be used. Access issues and the security of data have been a fundamental design consideration.

You will have the same NAIT obligations as for other owners/persons in charge of larger herds. It is anticipated that service providers (stock and station agents, transport operators, etc) may offer services that include the meeting of NAIT requirements. A group of small-block holders might also consider sharing equipment to meet NAIT requirements.