Vet practice NLIS requirements

If your veterinary practice holds livestock such as cattle, sheep, goats or pigs, you must comply with livestock traceability requirements. These requirements are important for managing disease outbreaks and emergencies.

Veterinary practices that receive cattle, sheep or goats must ensure the animals are correctly identified and scanned and recorded ('sighted') on the NLIS database.

Veterinary practices that allow cattle, sheep, goats or pigs onsite must complete the following.

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.

Obtain a National Livestock Identification Code (NLIS) account

• a 'veterinary' National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) account is required to complete a transfer onto the pound PIC or a 'sighted' transfer.

Ensure the owner/keeper of the impounded animals has a PIC

• All owners and keepers of cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, alpacas, llamas, deer, horses, camels, 50 or more poultry legally MUST have a PIC.

If the owner or keeper of the animals does not have a PIC and refuses to apply for one, email their details to livestocktraceability@agriculture.vic.gov.au.

Ensure that all animals present at the vet practice are tagged or tattooed 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.

Ensure all animals have their NLIS ear tags scanned or visually recorded

• All cattle, sheep and goats at a veterinary practice must have their NLIS tags scanned or visually recorded. These tag numbers will be used in the NLIS transfer.

Ensure a NLIS transfer, or sighted transfer is completed on the NLIS database

A sighted transfer can be used when livestock are held at a vet practice for less than 7 days and then returned to the property they came from. Livestock kept at the pound for more than 7 days, or moved to a different property, must be transferred onto the pound PIC.

1. Log onto the NLIS database
2. Choose what livestock species you want to work with
3. Notify the database of:
   • livestock moved onto my property (full NLIS transfer onto the vet PIC)
   • sighted livestock (simplified transfer)
4. Enter the following data when completing a full NLIS transfer or a sighted transfer:
   • NLIS tag numbers for each animal
   • PIC of the property the animals arrived from – this is entered into the comments box for the sighted transfer
   • date the animals arrived at the vet practice

The NLIS transfer to the vet PIC, or a sighted transfer, must be completed within 2 days of the animal arriving at the vet practice, or before it leaves, whichever comes first.

For information on completing a full or sighted transfer, visit the NLIS website or contact the NLIS database helpdesk on 1800 683 111.

Ensure the movement of pigs on the PigPass database is completed

All pigs present at a vert practice must have their movement recorded on the PigPass database.

For more information, visit the PigPass website or contact the PigPass helpdesk on 1800 001 458.