Action could soon be taken against some farmers who disregard their obligations under the National Animal Identification and Tracing scheme, NAIT operations manager Tony Corcoran told the Bay of Plenty branch of Federated Farmers' conference in May.

The model was for the scheme to, at first, be voluntary with assistance. Then farmers would be directed to comply and the final step was enforcement.

'I can't give a time frame but for some, enforcement may be sooner rather than later. Framers need to take this seriously,” he said.
Overall the transition to the new scheme had exceeded expectations. 'We are really pleased at how well the first 10 months have gone. Farmers have taken on the message about what they have got to do and know how to comply.”

Picas
Stock and station agents and livestock companies had generally done an outstanding job of complying. So far 60,000 people had registered as people in charge of animals, known as Picas, Tony said.
Tony said another indication of the scheme's early success was a reduction in the costs of NAIT tags which made it easier for farmers to be compliant.
There were still some issues to be sorted out but NAIT had a call centre and representatives in the field available to help farmers and they'd be at the Fieldays too.
Some of the issues related to IT problems and the ability of the LIC programme MINDA to communicate with the NAIT system. All were being addressed.

Technical issues
Some farmers at the meeting said they were frustrated by emails informing them of movements of animals they had sold, or with an inability to ‘de-register' tag numbers issued (before NAIT became compulsory) which were still recorded against their name. Tony advised them to seek help through the call centre or from a NAIT representative.
Under the NAIT scheme, farmers must register their tagged cattle and deer, record any off-farm movements and confirm in the NAIT system when they receive cattle or deer onto their property. This includes dairy animals moving to grazing.
The NAIT scheme relates to commercial farmers as well as lifestylers if they have cattle or deer.
It has been designed to provide traceability of individual cattle and deer to enhance New Zealand's ability to respond quickly to a food safety scare or a Bio-security threat, and give added confidence to trading partners.