Brand and identify livestock

The National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) is Australia's system for identifying and tracing livestock for food safety, product integrity and market access purposes.

It is a permanent whole-of-life identification system that allows individual animals to be traced from the property of birth to slaughter or export.

In the Northern Territory (NT) all cattle, buffalo, sheep and goats must have an approved NLIS device before they are moved off a property regardless of where they are going.

For more information on approved NLIS devices or to apply for a NLIS account go to the NLIS website.

Order NLIS tags

There are different tags for cattle and buffalo, and sheep and goats.

To work out which tags you must order, get the guide to ordering NLIS devices.

Ordering NLIS devices DOCX (53.0 KB)
Ordering NLIS devices PDF (134.6 KB)

You can order tags from commercial suppliers. Use the relevant order form below.

Cattle and buffalo

Order form - permanent NLIS devices or FID for cattle/buffalo DOCX (64.3 KB)
Order form - permanent NLIS devices or FID for cattle/buffalo  PDF (141.5 KB)

Order form - transaction tags for buffalo DOCX (63.4 KB)
Order form - transaction tags for buffalo PDF (142.4 KB)

Sheep and goats

New NLIS electronic identification device (eID) are available for sheep and goats.

It connects to the NLIS and allows for individual identification.

From 1 January 2025, this will be mandatory.

The Livestock Biosecurity team is working with the Australian Government to roll them out.

Order them and get a reimbursement using the forms below.

Order form for permanent approved NLIS eID tags for sheep and goats DOCX (70.7 KB)
Order form for permanent approved NLIS eID tags for sheep and goats PDF (212.6 KB)

Sheep and goat eID equipment reimbursement application PDF (195.3 KB)
Sheep and goat eID equipment reimbursement application DOCX (68.1 KB)

To find out more about the eIDs, get the fact sheet PDF (1.4 MB) or watch the video on Vimeo.

When stock can be moved without an NLIS tag

You can apply to the registrar to move untagged stock in the following circumstances:

• natural disasters, including cyclone, flood or fire - when livestock have been forced to move from their original property and need to be moved back home or to another property to avoid stock losses
• to return stray cattle from a neighbouring property.

Permission will not be granted in the following circumstances:

• not enough time to organise devices or tags
• lack of equipment or staff
• poor infrastructure
• not enough time allowed for tagging.

Apply for permission

To apply for permission to move stock without NLIS tags, follow these steps.

Step 1. Fill in the application.

Application to move livestock without a permanent identification device or transaction tags DOCX (64.6 KB)
Application to move livestock without a permanent identification device or transaction tags PDF (168.2 KB)

Step 2. Email application to ntnlis@nt.gov.au.

For enquiries contact the principal livestock regulatory officer and registrar by calling  08 8973 9703 or emailing ntnlis@nt.gov.au.

Information for NT livestock owners

Although the NLIS is a national system, the following set of guides about how the system operates in the NT has been developed for local producers.

Contact

For help with NLIS issues in the NT, contact the principal livestock regulatory officer and registrar or the livestock officer at Livestock Biosecurity in your region.

Other NLIS contact

For assistance with the NLIS database contact the database helpdesk by:

• calling 1800 654 743
• emailing support@nlis.com.au
• fax to 02 9463 9136.

You can also go to the NLIS website. For NLIS contacts in other states get the interstate contact information fact sheet.

NLIS interstate contact information DOCX (63.8 KB)
NLIS interstate contact information PDF (56.0 KB)