Vet practice NLIS requirements

If your vet practice holds animals such as cattle, sheep, goats and pigs there are livestock traceability requirements that must be adhered to. This is important for disease and emergency purposes.

Veterinary practices accepting cattle, sheep and/or goats onto their premises are required to ensure that livestock are correctly identified, scanned and ‘sighted’ on the NLIS database.

Specific requirements for veterinary practices that hold large animals are listed below.

1. Obtain a Property Identification Code (PIC)

• ensure a PIC is registered to the property at which animals are held
• ensure the PIC details are up to date.

2. Obtain an NLIS account

• a ‘veterinary’ NLIS account is required to enable a ‘sighted’ function to be performed

3. Ensure that all livestock present are tagged with a tag or tattoo as appropriate

• all cattle, sheep and goats are required to be tagged with an electronic NLIS tag before being dispatched off a property
• all pigs are required to be tagged or tattooed before being dispatched off a property.

Sheep and goats dispatched to a vet clinic from interstate must be identified in accordance with the legal requirements of the jurisdiction from which they were dispatched.

4. Scan or visually record livestock tags

• all cattle, sheep and goats present at a veterinary practice must have their NLIS tags scanned or visually recorded

5. Complete a ‘sighted movement’ on the NLIS database

To complete a 'sighted movement' you will need to upload the following data:

• Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) internal number, or visually read external NLIS tag number for each animal
• date the cattle, sheep or goat arrived at the veterinary practice
• PIC of the property of the veterinary practice

The sighted movement must be completed within two days of arrival of the livestock.

6. Report the movement of pigs on the PigPass database

All pigs present at a pound must have their movement reported on the PigPass database. 

Information about PigPass can be found online at pigpass.australianpork.com.au under the FAQ tab or by calling the PigPass helpdesk on 1800 001 458