Penny Finally Drops For NSW FMRS ASSOC with RFID NLIS.
ABA Chair Brad Bellinger said that a sense of relief was felt through the NSW Sheep Industry when they read NSW Farmers Assoc Fiona Simpson announce that they will not be supporting sheep RFID.
New leadership within the organisation has obviously led to better policy setting where the financial welfare of their members is now at the forefront instead of Government as it had in the past.
While NSW FMRS correctly points to the enormous financial cost to producers as their reason for not backing the scheme,the fact is that it does not provide adequate trace back.
A trial commissioned by the ABA on the efficacy of RFID NLIS Cattle conducted over 14 property identification codes in all mainland states involving the movements of over 50 000 head of cattle showed 34% had lost their whole of life traceability.
A year by year description on the data showed that the accuracy level continued to drop as time progressed.These findings are consistent with the Price Waterhouse Coopers report commissioned by the Federal Government ,that admitted that the number of cattle that had lost Whole Of Life Traceability was considerable and that the problem would snowball over time.
With now over 130 million tags on the cattle database the direct costs to producers in tags and reading charges alone is close to 3/4 of a billion dollars,we have definitely been sold a very expensive lemon.
Mr Bellinger would remind the NSW Farmers Assoc that their support of Cattle RFID was conditional.Stipulating that the system must work.The ABA has all the evidence to prove that it doesn’t.
We congratulate NSW FMRS on their sheep RFID policy but we ask for the penny to drop and abandon their support for Cattle RFID.
For more information contact Brad Bellinger on: 02 67254282
Or David Byard on: 0409 426 710.
Email: ausbeef@bigpond.com
Truth Farmer 