Animal ID scheme roadshow on tomorrow

The National Animal Identification and Tracing scheme roadshow hits the road with a meeting for farmers in Matamata tomorrow, Thursday, May 3; part of its 44-centre tour of rural New Zealand.

The roadshows farmers nationwide will give the oppor- tunity to find out how to meet their NAIT obligations before the scheme is mandatory for cattle from July 1 this year and for deer from March 1, 2013.

Each show lasts 90 minutes and includes a presentation from NAIT Ltd’s field team and a question and answer session.

The Matamata meeting is at Daltons Plantation, at 9.45am.

The NAIT scheme will link people, property and livestock, through electronic ear tags for cattle and deer with a central database. It will strengthen New Zealand’s biosecurity system to assure our overseas markets that a livestock disease can be quickly contained in the event of any biosecurity incident.

The aim is to reassure farmers once they have registered with NAIT that their scheme obligations are straightforward. They can even delegate somebody to meet all or most of their obligations on their behalf.

‘‘We are working closely with our shareholders, livestock sector stakeholders and others to make sure farmers know what they need to know for a smooth transition to the NAIT scheme come July 1,’’ NAIT Ltd chief executive Russell Burnard said.