Two Northland farmers fined for animal ID failures

AuthorMike Dinsdale
Published date04 November 2021
Publication titleNorthland Age, The
Beef and dairy farmer Cameron Lloyd Banicevich, 46, was sentenced in a reserved decision at the Dargaville District Court last month on one charge under the NAIT Act following a prosecution by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).

MPI’s regional manager animal welfare and NAIT compliance, Brendon Mikkelsen, said it is critical that people in charge of NAIT animals register them in the system.

“Just putting NAIT tags on the animals is not enough. We take the situation very seriously.

“Our ability to track and trace cattle and deer through the NAIT system is a critical factor in managing biosecurity threats which could have a devastating impact on New Zealand’s agricultural sector.”

In December 2019, the Government increased the penalty for failing to register NAIT animals tenfold, meaning the maximum fine was increased from $10,000 to $100,000.

In July 2020 Banicevich received an infringement for not registering 68 animals. By August, he had been contacted by a NAIT officer and at that stage had only one animal registered. Following an on-farm census, he had registered 729 animals by the end of September.

Meanwhile, another Dargaville...

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