Farmers woke to the news that the National Animal Identification and Tracing scheme, or NAIT has been delayed until the end of next year at the earliest.
The government has announced there is not enough legislative time left in Parliament’s sitting year to pass NAIT into law.
The animal tagging scheme had been scheduled to go live on November 1.
Taupiri bull breeder Steven Stark says while he was surprised by the announcement on one hand, and stoked on the other.
“I’m surprised to hear it. Although it did seem like there was a lot, how would you say it, a lot to happen between now and November and people knew they would have to tag animals but they hadn’t got into the nitty gritty of it all.
“I think it’s good that it was delayed anyway.”
Mr Stark says he doesn’t think the wheels will fall off the economy because of NAITs delay.
NAIT CEO Russell Burnard says while the delay is disappointing it has bought the organisation some more time to further refine and test the technology before it is implemented.
“And we’re still strongly encouraging farmers to think about tagging their animals now while they’re still young it’s easier to tag when they are young, our view is still quite clear that it’s not a lost investment.
“NAIT will be mandatory next year when the legislation is passed so farmers can choose now to use those tags, obviously totally voluntarily.”
Mr Burnard says the next several weeks will be spent determining the new timeframes and that NAIT’s educational work will continue.
Federated Farmers says the delay is a great opportunity for the farming sector – as it will allow NAIT to reconsider the technology it plans to implement.
“They were using old technology, five or six year old technology. So we’re suggesting that we have a serious look at ultra high frequency and allow farmers to use the technology that will increase productivity on the farm, and allow us to use the latest and highest technology on the farm.”
Meanwhile, the Animal Heath Board is advising farmers that until further notice all cattle sent to slaughter must have either bar-coded primary tags or bar-coded direct-to-slaughter tags.
Animal Heath Board chief executive William Cook says it is essential animals at processing plants can be identified so bar-coded tags will remain compulsory until NAIT is eventually implemented.
