PIRSA officials tour new look livestock exchange

THE future is bright at South Australia’s premier livestock selling facility with improvements at the Naracoorte Regional Livestock Exchange taking shape.

The installation of sheep eID equipment and infrastructure is nearing completion, and Naracoorte Lucindale Council has also budgeted just under $1million this financial year for infrastructure upgrades to the sheep yards.

Council has been working closely with the Department of Primary Industries and Regions SA (PIRSA) since the announcement of the mandated sheep and goat eID (electronic identification) requirements to ensure new equipment and infrastructure could be rolled out at the NRLE.

PIRSA has committed to paying up to 75% of the cost of essential equipment (both hardware and software) and structural modifications to infrastructure.

The rollout of sheep and farmed goat eID aims to improve the accuracy and efficiency of livestock traceability by moving from a visual tag and mob-based system to eID tagging which sees microchips read by panel readers, or handheld scanning wands if required.

Weekly sales have continued while the installation of the eID equipment and infrastructure has been underway at the NRLE thanks to the cooperation of Council staff, agents and vendors during this time, which has also seen staff and agents undertake necessary training.

Earlier this month, PIRSA representatives called in to the NRLE as part of a visit to saleyards in the region and had the opportunity to see the progress of eID installations.

Mayor Patrick Ross, Chief Executive Officer Kelly Westell, Director Infrastructure & Services Daniel Willsmore and NRLE Manager Dianne Evans met with the PIRSA representatives including Con Poulos (PIRSA Director Animal Biosecurity), Georgie Cornish (PIRSA Executive Director Biosecurity), Skye Fruean (PIRSA Chief Veterinary Officer) and Alice Clayfield (PIRSA Animal Health Officer).

Mayor Ross said council was pleased to see the project enter its final stages and welcomed the PIRSA visit.

“I’d like to thank the team and agents, in particular, for helping make sure we are playing a part in the new livestock movement monitoring programs,” Mayor Ross said.

“The NRLE is an important part of our local economy and, as regional South Australia’s main livestock selling centre, we recognise the role we must play in mitigating biosecurity risk.

“I’m pleased the PIRSA representatives could see progress on the project and, while there are still some elements of the installation to go, we remain committed to building on the NRLE’s reputation as a high-quality saleyard.”

More information on the eID system can be found on the PIRSA website at https://pir.sa.gov.au/eid