Cattle Compensation Fund

Cattle in a field, windmill in the background

Victoria's Cattle Compensation Fund (CCF) is established under the Livestock Disease Control Act 1994 (the Act) and funded from duty collected on the sale of cattle, calves or cattle carcasses.

The Cattle Compensation Fund receives $0.05 duty for every $20 or part of $20 of the sale price of every head of cattle sold singly, or for the total amount of the sale price for any number of cattle sold in one lot.  The maximum duty for any one head of cattle (sold singly or as part of a lot) is $5.00.

Each cattle carcass weighing up to and including 250kg attracts a duty of $0.90.  Each carcass weighing more than 250g attracts a duty of $1.30.

The duty on calves (any cattle less than six weeks of age) is $0.15 a head.

Cattle includes bulls, cows, oxen, steer, heifers, bison and buffalo.

The requirement to pay the cattle duty and report to the State Revenue Office is paused for all sales from 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2026. The duty has been waived for 12 months as part of the Victorian Government’s comprehensive $144 million Drought Support Package. For more information on the pause, please see sro.vic.gov.au/livestock-duty.

Under Section 72(2) of the Act, the Minister for Agriculture may make payments from the CCF for the following:

  • administering the provisions of the Act relating to cattle or of any other Act administered by the Minister that requires the identification of cattle
  • programs and projects for the benefit of the cattle industry in Victoria.

Payments from the Fund can only be made once the Minister for Agriculture has considered recommendations from the Cattle Compensation Advisory Committee (CCAC).

Cattle Compensation Advisory Committee (CCAC)

Current members of the CCAC (appointed August 2024) are:

  • Mr Ron Harris (Chairperson)
  • Ms Liz Summerville
  • Mr Lachlan Sutherland
  • Ms Jennifer O’Sullivan
  • Dr John Allen
  • Ms Jemma Harper
  • Mr Peter Miller

Grant applications are now closed

Applications for the 2025 Livestock Biosecurity Funds grant program were open between 7 March and 14 April 2025.

See Livestock Biosecurity Funds Grant Program for details.

2025 Livestock Biosecurity Funds grant round

A total of 12 project applications were successful in receiving CCF funding. These include:

  • Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) Stock Sense Peri Urban
  • Healthy Wealthy and Bio-Wise
  • Electronic National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) (Cattle) tag subsidy
  • Cattle Compensation Fund Program Manager
  • Addressing the growth in Victoria’s phantom herd
  • Dairy herd surveillance for influenza through air, milk and water
  • Developing evidence-based guidelines for liver fluke infection in cattle
  • Preparing for potential H5N1 incursions into Victorian dairy cattle
  • FarmVet Connect
  • Portable Sensor for Early Detection of Parasitic Infections in Cattle
  • H5N1 Milk Disinfection Studies
  • Preparedness for livestock arbovirus outbreaks using artificial intelligence

For the latest information on the Livestock Biosecurity Funds grant program go to our Livestock Biosecurity Funds page

Page last updated: 10 Nov 2025