Farmers’ views are being sought on a proposed levy system which would fund the National Animal Identification and Tracing System which comes into effect next July.

NAIT chief executive Russell Burnard says he is seeking feedback on the proposed levy which would be used to fund the ongoing costs of running NAIT.

“We’ve worked pretty hard with them to try and get the right balance and as always it’s a difficult balance for any levy setting process but certainly the model we have established all the three shareholders are generally comfortable that’s the approach we should take.” 

Mr Burnard says a cost recovery model has been developed in consultation with Beef and Lamb, Deer NZ and Dairy NZ.

He says at the moment the proposed levies would be applied to tags and slaughter for cattle and would work out at about $2.50 over the lifetime of an animal.

“Basically it’s about $2.50 over the lifetime of an animal, and we’ll have different charges every year. For year one we’re looking at $1.10 per ear tag for cattle, NAIT tag for cattle and $1.35 per head of slaughter.”