Fine for cattle offences

A Labertouche livestock producer is the fourth person to be fined for breaching National Livestock Identification Scheme regulations.

Bartholomew Merrall, 46, was convicted and fined $11,900 at Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court last Wednesday to charges relating to selling cattle that were incorrectly tagged.

The court heard Mr Merrall’s actions had the potential to jeopardise Victoria’s livestock traceability system.

Mr Merrall was the fourth person to be fined as a result of cattle traceability matters heard at Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court before Magistrate Belinda Wallington.

In March, Pakenham livestock agent Nathan Gibbon was convicted and fined more than $20,000 for NLIS traceability offences and a company which Mr Gibbon is director of, Clayton Hill Pty Ltd, was fined $1100.

Two local cattle farmers Kristian Bingham of Warragul and Peter Armstrong, formerly of Darnum were fined $8000 and $6500 respectively.

All men pleaded guilty to the offences. Mr Gibbon and Mr Armstrong were both convicted while Mr Bingham was fined without conviction.

At court last week, Mr Merrall faced offences including the illegal removal of NLIS ear tags, not correctly disposing of NLIS ear tags, failing to provide cattle movement information to the NLIS database and providing false information relating to the status of cattle.

The court heard that when officers inspected Mr Merrall’s property in October 2019 they discovered 269 removed NLIS ear tags including 45 of his white breeder tags that had been removed from cattle previously been consigned to export.

Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions evidence to the court said Mr Merrall subsequently changed the status of the removed NLIS ear tags to “deceased” to cover up the removal of the NLIS tags after officers attended the property.

Under Victoria’s Livestock Disease Control Act Regulations it is illegal to remove NLIS tags.

Agriculture Victoria senior legal officer Penny Lucas said Mr Merrall’s actions had put Victoria’s biosecurity system, and its livestock sector at risk.

“The National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) enables livestock biosecurity risks and disease outbreaks to be tracked, traced and quickly controlled,” she said.

“It also provides certainty on the movement of livestock and livestock products through the supply chain, helping to facilitate access to premium international markets.

“The illegal activity of one producer can jeopardise the entire industry, impacting our ability to trace livestock in an emergency disease or food safety incident and causing important export markets to be lost.”

For his conviction of dispatching and selling cattle not tagged correctly, Mr Merrall was fined $3000. He also was fined $4000 for the illegal removal of cattle NLIS ear tags, $1500 for failing to send required cattle movement information to the NLIS database within two days, $400 for failing to dispose of used cattle NILS ear tags to prevent being re-used, and $3000 for providing false information to the NLIS database.

Agriculture Victoria director of animal health and welfare Les Howard said the prompt detection of the offending and thorough investigation conducted by the department has ensured potential risks to Victorian livestock and consumers were successfully contained.

Mr Howard said the outcome of the matters brought before the court served as a strong reminder for the Victorian community to take biosecurity seriously.

“The vast majority of Victorian producers do an excellent job of helping to ensure a strong biosecurity system is maintained.

“A strong biosecurity system not only protects our agriculture sector, but also our environment, biodiversity, cultural heritage, economy and way of life.” he said.