Tracka - lifestyle block animal recording scheme.
A mandatory animal identification and traceability system for all domestically farmed livestock will be in place in New Zealand by October 2007. This is so New Zealand can meet and match the biosecurity and food safety safeguards of our major trading partners.
A pan-industry working group has agreed a timetable for achieving traceability with the relevant industry organisations charged with ensuring their members are informed and compliant with the regulations when they take effect.
Livestock Improvement has earned international acclaim for the levels of voluntary traceability achieved in the New Zealand dairy industry, though its MINDA herd recording service. The farmer owned co-operative wants to leverage its expertise to make it easy for farmers to comply with the regulations. Its new Trace business unit has developed a number of products.
'Tracka', is a website specifically designed to make it easy and simple for lifestyle block farmers to register their animals.
New Zealand has around 65,000 properties which qualify as lifestyle blocks. The animals on a lifestyle block are just as important to New Zealands food safety, as animals on large scale commercial farms it only takes one animal to compromise a countrys biosecurity status.
To achieve international levels of biosecurity, every domestically farmed animal must be able to be tracked from pasture to plate. To date, other than for tuberculosis (TB) control, there has been no mandatory requirement for the owners of lifestyle blocks to register or track the animals in their care. The Government has indicated this will change with legislation on or before 2007.
Livestock Improvements Tracka website (www.tracka.co.nz) will make it easy to apply unique identification to each animal on a given property. That identification (by way of ear tag and records) attaches to the animal for its life from pasture to plate.
The Tracka website has been launched to a limited group for beta testing and will be launched to the public around April. Lifestyle farmers will be able to register animals giving them unique identifiers ranging from a number to a name, order appropriate eartags and pay by credit card. The traceability necessary to ensure biosecurity will be provided throughout that large group of small blocks with livestock at a very efficient cost.
To order ear tags go to www.lic.co.nz and click on 'tags' or go to www.tracka.co.nz
A pan-industry working group has agreed a timetable for achieving traceability with the relevant industry organisations charged with ensuring their members are informed and compliant with the regulations when they take effect.
Livestock Improvement has earned international acclaim for the levels of voluntary traceability achieved in the New Zealand dairy industry, though its MINDA herd recording service. The farmer owned co-operative wants to leverage its expertise to make it easy for farmers to comply with the regulations. Its new Trace business unit has developed a number of products.
'Tracka', is a website specifically designed to make it easy and simple for lifestyle block farmers to register their animals.
New Zealand has around 65,000 properties which qualify as lifestyle blocks. The animals on a lifestyle block are just as important to New Zealands food safety, as animals on large scale commercial farms it only takes one animal to compromise a countrys biosecurity status.
To achieve international levels of biosecurity, every domestically farmed animal must be able to be tracked from pasture to plate. To date, other than for tuberculosis (TB) control, there has been no mandatory requirement for the owners of lifestyle blocks to register or track the animals in their care. The Government has indicated this will change with legislation on or before 2007.
Livestock Improvements Tracka website (www.tracka.co.nz) will make it easy to apply unique identification to each animal on a given property. That identification (by way of ear tag and records) attaches to the animal for its life from pasture to plate.
The Tracka website has been launched to a limited group for beta testing and will be launched to the public around April. Lifestyle farmers will be able to register animals giving them unique identifiers ranging from a number to a name, order appropriate eartags and pay by credit card. The traceability necessary to ensure biosecurity will be provided throughout that large group of small blocks with livestock at a very efficient cost.
To order ear tags go to www.lic.co.nz and click on 'tags' or go to www.tracka.co.nz