Analyze #2?! NLIS system!

Well, I wrote the food blog..apparently "someone" didn't read/understand the directions on that blog. So, I suppose I will write yet another! :)

I guess that the analyzation of different agricultural principles from Australia to the United States could go on forever. The difference that I was most impacted by was the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS). This system is used in the same was our our eat tag system would be used in the United States. So now your thinking...ok so why do you think its so different then?! It is all electronic! These ear tags are electronic and they have different types of readers that read the ear tags. This special ID number specific for that animal is then transmitted into the Victorian electronic computer system. This unique system has the ability to trace the animal from the producer to the point of slaughter. This system has SO many advantages! The advantages that I see are that their traceability is so much better than the United States. They know where that animal has been from the beginning of its life to the ending point. Also, if there was a disease case (example BSE) they could trace that animal within 2 hours and figure out the source of where the disease originated. This in my opinion is huge! It would be really nice to be able to know this, esp. with the modern day disease problems that we have had. This whole system is built into a data system over the computer.
Now for the disadvantages that I saw in the system. The computer system alone costs the producer $2,000 to have it on site. For a small operation this is just not feasible. Essentially what I see is that the hobby farmer will phase out in Victoria because of this cost. It also cost around $1 per ear tag. That is expensive compared to our ear tags! These are the only problems that I see with the system. It would be really hard to get the "grandpa" farmers in on this system as well just because it has to do with computers. I think that our generation would take to it a lot better than the older generations would because we are more comfortable with the electronic system as we have grown up with it.
Overall, I would call the Victorian system ahead of the times compared to the United States. The traceability on the cattle is just amazing. Even though there are cost disadvantages, I think the overall positives outweigh the negatives. If you would like to learn more about this system then you can visit http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/agriculture/farming-management/nlis. Enjoy!

Here is an example of the different NLIS ear tags! Pretty sweet huh?!