The recent Victorian budget provided an allocation of funds in 2013-14 related to the implementation of sheep RFID. The relevant section from the Agricultural Ministers press release is quoted below.

“A priority will be increasing the industry’s preparedness for an outbreak of FMD, which is a highly contagious viral disease of livestock that is widespread throughout Asia and Africa but not present in Australia.

“This budget allocation will progress Victoria’s move towards an effective electronic identification system for sheep and goats, replacing the current visual tag and paper based National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) (Sheep & Goats).

“The new funding will provide for grants to be provided to regional saleyards and processors to buy equipment for the reading of electronic tags on sheep and goats and for recording their movements on the NLIS database.