New Zealand's National Cattle ID Project Gets $23 Million

"With more than 5 million dairy cattle and about 5 million beef cattle in New Zealand, RFID was the best solution to provide information on individual animals," Purcell says. "It is also more accurate, with less chance of misreads, and a much faster way to identify animals without slowing their movement on the farms. Other countries have already set a standard in electronic tagging of animals, so it is vital that we adopt it to remain competitive in the international market."

Additionally, the New Zealand government demanded increased traceability to track stock in the event of a disease outbreak. In 2005, a hoaxer claimed to have released a vial of infectious foot-and-mouth virus on Waiheke Island, 18 kilometers east of Auckland, demonstrating the need to have quick access to comprehensive information about animals. But Purcell says farmers would also benefit from adopting RFID. The use of the technology, he says, will yield accurate information regarding individual animals, enabling farmers to make better decisions, such as tracking the ideal weight for sale, monitoring treatments and recording breeding information.

What's more, Purcell adds, the government funding will provide the RFID project with certainty and longevity. "The funding will allow the capital building to go ahead immediately, so it is a real shot in the arm," he says. "The database is vital, as it will hold all the animal information and connect to peripheral systems." This will include FarmsOnLine, a central database of information about rural properties, which will contain maps of farms and include details regarding their ownership and use. "NAIT has been a joint initiative between the government and industry," he notes, "and it has been challenging to develop a consensus, but this funding allows us to plan for the long term."

Farmers will ultimately pick up the tab for 65 percent of operational expenses for NAIT, Purcell says, but he believes this will not put too large a burden on already-stretched farmers. "We have chosen a passive, single-write LF tag because it is a proven technology that will suit the New Zealand market," he says. "We recognize that New Zealand is a relatively small market, so we determined to be technology adopters rather than leaders."

New Zealand's tag registry is already up and running, and farmers are being encouraged to begin tagging animals they plan to keep for more than two years, and to enter the tag numbers in the registry now. Purcell says NAIT hopes to have the database containing all animal details and movements ready by late 2009 or early 2010, with a further 18 months before full compliance is achieved. Rollout will be a staged process, he indicates, before eventually becoming legally mandated for farmers in mid-2011.

Cattle will be tagged first, followed by deer, though the system will be designed to enable other livestock to be added in the future. The introduction of RFID is expected to reduce the effects of a major disease outbreak by between 2 and 10 percent, as well as prevent a resulting loss in export value in international markets of between 1.25 and 3 percent.