Five ways to meet your integrity requirements this year

While the hot weather limits livestock handling and movements, the start of the new year is the perfect time to ensure you’re set up to meet your integrity requirements on-farm in 2022.

Meeting your LPA and NLIS requirements helps guarantee market access and customer confidence in the red meat you produce. Here are five straightforward ways you can get your integrity in order this month and stand by what you sell.

1. Review your Farm Biosecurity Plan

Ensuring your livestock are, and remain, free from serious infectious disease allows you to maximise farm productivity and minimise animal discomfort, stock losses and veterinary costs. 

To meet your LPA requirements around biosecurity, you must have a formal, documented Farm Biosecurity Plan for each Property Identification Code (PIC) you own and update this at least annually.

LPA provides a template that outlines all details that need to be recorded for the Farm Biosecurity Plan and for this requirement. This template is available in editable PDF, Word and Excel formats, or can be created entirely online and stored in your LPA account. Find out more about the options for creating and storing your Farm Biosecurity Plan or learn more about what you need to do on-farm to ensure biosecurity and meet your LPA requirements.

An example of the Farm Biosecurity Plan template. Click on the image to download a PDF version. 

2. Update your Property Risk Assessment

All LPA-accredited producers must create a Property Risk Assessment and update it annually to help ensure food safety and prevent stock losses, sickness or injury caused by physical or chemical contamination. The start of the year is the perfect time to take a look around your property and update your assessment with any new risks that may have arisen since your last assessment was completed.

To meet your LPA requirements, you need to have a risk assessment and map of your property to ensure all possible measures are being taken to prevent unacceptable levels of persistent chemicals and physical contaminants entering the meat produced on-farm. This assessment and map may be requested by an auditor if you are selected to undergo an LPA audit. More information on this LPA requirement.  

LPA provides a Property Risk Assessment template that outlines all details that need to be recorded as part of the assessment and for this requirement. This template is available in editable PDF, Excel and Word formats, or can be created entirely online and stored in your LPA account. Find out more about the options for creating and storing your property risk assessment.

An example of the Property Risk Assessment Plan template. Click on the image to download a PDF version. 

3. Make sure you can access your industry accounts

Have you set up your myMLA account yet? You can now access all your industry accounts – including NLIS, LPA, MSA and LDL– using just one username and password, by linking your accounts to myMLA.

Linking your LPA account to myMLA is necessary to purchase key integrity products and services including LPA NVD books and LPA accreditation and to access eNVD. From 1 July 2021, these items can only be purchased or accessed via myMLA. 

Watch the video below or access this printable step-by-step guide to learn how to sign up to myMLA and link your accounts to the service.

This video outlines the steps to link your myMLA accounts.  

4. Conduct a PIC reconciliation

A PIC reconciliation compares the tags you have on your property with what the NLIS database has recorded for your property.

ISC recommends producers conduct a PIC reconciliation annually to ensure you have an accurate record of what livestock are on your property and to prevent errors from occurring in the NLIS database when livestock transfers are made. NLIS database errors involving your PIC can trigger a targeted LPA audit of your property or prompt investigations by your state or territory authority.

To conduct a PIC reconciliation, you must scan all animals on your property as well as the spare NLIS tags you have to generate a file of tag numbers which you can upload to your account in the NLIS database. Access ISC’s how-to guide to learn how to conduct a PIC reconciliation.

This video shows you how to conduct a PIC reconciliation by file upload. The other method involves uploading a file.  

5. Get on top of your animal treatments

Parasites such as worms and buffalo fly are currently widespread. Monitor your livestock for parasites and ensure sufficient chemical is available to prevent or treat parasites in your flock or herd.

Producers must record the details of any livestock treatments administered in order to meet their LPA requirements. A template for producers to record livestock treatments is available for download.

For more information and resources to assist with parasite management, visit the ParaBoss website.