From 1 January 2025, sheep and goats must be tagged with an electronic identification device.
Read more about these changes.
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.
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.
You can order tags from commercial suppliers. Use the relevant order form below.
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.
To find out more about the eIDs, get the fact sheet PDF (1.4 MB) or watch the video on Vimeo.
You can apply to the registrar to move untagged stock in the following circumstances:
Permission will not be granted in the following circumstances:
To apply for permission to move stock without NLIS tags, follow these steps.
Step 1. Fill in the application.
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.
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.
Sending and receiving cattle
Devices and tags which have been approved for use on livestock in the NT
Correct place to put a tag in the off-side - RHS- ear
How to open an NLIS account
What to do when agistment cattle leave a property
Information for smallholders with cattle
Requirements for NT abattoirs
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.
For assistance with the NLIS database contact the database helpdesk by:
You can also go to the NLIS website. For NLIS contacts in other states get the interstate contact information fact sheet.