EID & NLIS
What producers need to know
Compliance is the floor, not the ceiling. Here's the national picture, the WA specifics, and how to make traceability actually work for you.
What is NLIS?
The National Livestock Identification System is Australia's scheme for tracing livestock from property of birth through to processing. Electronic ID tags, linked to the NLIS database, let animals be tracked as they move — underpinning market access, biosecurity and food safety.
Cattle EID
Electronic identification has been mandatory for cattle nationally for years. Every beast carries an accredited NLIS device, and movements are recorded against your PIC and NLIS account. We set this up so it captures useful on-farm data at the same time, not just the compliance minimum.
Sheep & goat rollout
Australia is rolling out mandatory electronic ID for sheep and farmed goats under a national plan agreed by agriculture ministers in 2022. (Cattle have required electronic ID nationally since 2005.)
Animals born from 1 January 2025 onward must carry an eID device, and NSW, South Australia, Queensland and Tasmania are working toward all remaining sheep and farmed goats being eID-tagged before leaving a property by 1 January 2027.
WA specifics
Western Australia's mandatory sheep and goat eID system came into full operation on 1 July 2026 — every sheep and goat must now be eID-tagged before leaving any property or facility, with movements recorded on the NLIS database. Older stock still on visual tags need an eID fitted before they leave. WA keeps the year-of-birth tag-colour system, and the Tag Incentive Payment (TIP) scheme offers a 60-cent discount per accredited eID tag until 31 December 2026.
Dates and requirements change — always confirm the current rules with DAFF and your state authority (in WA, DPIRD) before acting.
New · eNVD platform partnerAxisStream is coming online as an eNVD platform
AxisStream lets you create, manage and move National Vendor Declarations digitally — linked to the livestock data you've already captured, so compliance and records stay in one place.
Beyond compliance
Once the tags are in and the data is flowing, the same system that keeps you compliant can drive real decisions — selection, health, performance and marketing. That's where the value is.