The importance of your NVDs

Above: AgStock agent, Sam Hunter.

Australia’s red meat industry is a $31 billion industry because we are able to export our product into more than 100 markets around the world. To maintain this market access, we need to be able to provide an assurance to all our consumers that Australian red meat is safe to eat, has been raised in an ethical way, and that we are able to trace that product from property of birth to processing.

By managing food safety, biosecurity and animal welfare on-farm, producers contribute to the trust that consumers have in our product. This on-farm management needs to be backed by accurate records, including your Livestock Production Assurance National Vendor Declarations (LPA NVDs).

The LPA NVD is a legal document that guarantees on-farm practices meet LPA requirements and communicates the food safety and treatment status of every animal every time it moves along the value chain – between properties, to saleyards, or to processors.

NVDs are key to Australian red meat’s traceability and market access and livestock producers must ensure that every NVD is clear, complete and correct. By signing your declaration, you are confirming that you have taken every precaution to ensure your product has been produced safely, ethically and to biosecurity standards.

NVDs are a movement document that communicates the food safety and treatment status of every animal that moved through every step of the value chain – including between properties, to saleyards, or to processors.

They are key to Australian red meat’s traceability and market access. Without this traceability, the integrity of your product is lost.

AgStock agent Sam Hunter recommends taking care when completing these NVDs, as incorrect interpretations or misprinting information can lead to difficulties down the line.

“I think if everyone really believes and really respects it, an NVD is more than a piece of paper,” he said.

“It carries a lot of weight, it carries the accuracy of the information in that transfer through the whole livestock supply chain.”

NVDs must be clear, complete and correct. Allow time to thoroughly read through your NVDs, making sure that:

• if you are completing a hard copy NVD, your writing is as clear and neat as possible
• you have only chosen ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in response to questions – not both
• you have amended any small mistakes and initialled or started a new form if a large mistake has been made
• you have completed every question
• you have the on-farm records to back up the information on the NVD
• the NVD is signed after completion.

Completing your NVDs doesn’t have to be a hassle. Many producers are switching to the online eNVD , the free, faster, and easier way to complete livestock consignments. The eNVD saves you time by:

• only having to answer questions once across multiple declarations
• creating templates to pre-populate regular consignments
• can be printed at any time and be completed at the yards if needed
• can be signed digitally and are stored and accessible via an LPA account.

Sam Hunter stands by the producers of Australia and encourages them to stay on top of their documentation.

 “I think a lot of producers work really hard 365 days a year to create a really good red meat product, and I think if they take the time to do their Integrity Systems paperwork really accurately and provide the correct information, it's going to back up a lot of that hard work.”