From 1 January 2016, users of APHIS online will be allowed to use it as a sole herd register under a number of changes announced by DARD to Statutory Management Requirements (SMRs) under cross compliance. Until now, farmers had to keep a paper herd register or an electronic version on a specific format and retain it for 10 years. However, the new option allows on-farm registers to no longer be kept if a farmer has access to APHIS online and keeps it up to date.
Other changes to SMRs include the threshold for penalties for single missing tags in cattle herds changing from 10% of the herd or 20 animals to 15% of the herd. The revised threshold will be applied retrospectively from 1 January 2014, with all inspection cases since then reviewed and penalties re-calculated using the revised threshold.
Penalties imposed due to late notifications of births, deaths and movements by herdkeepers who are inspected will take into account all late notifications for the scheme year and not just at the time of inspection. Administrative checks on APHIS will be carried out on inspected herds, with penalties applying if 30% or more of notifications are late.
In terms of sheep identification, flock owners will be required to present all their sheep for inspection. An inspector will initially select 60 animals to determine they have been correctly tagged and will also check the holding register. If there are a significant number of animals not tagged, then the whole flock may be inspected.
Inspections will not lead to penalties if certain circumstances apply, including if no more than 30% of the animals inspected have missing tags, there is evidence that all animals have been tagged in both ears, all inspected animals are in the flock register and records are kept of retagged sheep.
SHARING OPTIONS