Livestock

Property Information Codes

From 1 September 2012, the Stock Diseases Regulation 2009 requires people who keep or own livestock in NSW to ensure the land on which the livestock are kept has a Property Identification Code (PIC).

The NSW Government's Local Land Services maintains a PIC register, which includes details such as property name or address and PIC manager details for the purpose of tracing livestock and identifying land used for agriculture. PICs are usually required to be renewed every 3 years.  

Livestock includes one or more of the following:

• Cattle
• Sheep
• Goats
• Pigs
• Deer
• Bison
• Buffalo
• Alpacas or lamas
• Horses or donkeys

And -

• 100 or more doves or pigeons,
• 100 or more chickens, ducks, geese or turkeys
• 10 or more emus or ostriches.

PICs are an important part of the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) and provide traceability to specific properties, which is important in the event of disease control or chemical residue problems. NLIS is a part of Federal and State Government biosecurity strategies to trace meat from paddock to plate and to safeguard our domestic and export markets.

Movements of livestock between properties with different PICs are recorded on the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) database, so movements of these livestock on and off different properties and saleyards can be traced, as well as livestock movements to abattoirs. For situations relating to disease control or where chemical residues are detected in meat at an abattoir, PICs assist in identifying the property where the affected stock were last held so that appropriate investigations and responses can occur.

PICs are printed on approved NLIS tags and recorded on stock movement documents such as National Vendor Declarations and Transported Stock Statements so the movement of livestock off a property can be traced.

Council does not have any formal role in the issue or administration of the PIC property registration system. Please see the Local Land Services PIC webpage  for further information.