NAIT compliance

NAIT regulations require all cattle and deer movements to be sent and recorded in their database. This means that every time a purchase, sale, cull, or death occurs NAIT needs to be notified. Failure to comply with the requirements can result in a fine or prosecution by the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI).

For information on your responsibilities as a Person In Charge of Animals (PICA), head to the OSPRI website. 

List of responsibilities as a PICA

Choose LIC as your NAIT provider for faster and more reliable compliance. Simply record and send animal movement data to NAIT from MINDA® or the MINDA App. 

You can opt in with LIC on this page,  all you need is your MINDA participant code, customer number and a NAIT number. 

You can register for MINDA or NAIT if you haven't already. 

As a Person in charge of animals (PICA), your responsibilities include:

• Register with NAIT to get a NAIT number and identify every property on which you have cattle and/or deer that you are in charge of.
• Animals must be tagged with an EID within 180 days of birth or before they move off farm, whichever comes first.
• Once physically tagged with an EID, every animal must be registered to your NAIT number within seven days of tagging or before they move off farm, whichever comes first.
• All movements of animals onto and off of your NAIT number must be recorded within 48 hours of the animal’s physical movement.
• Annually declare the number of non-NAIT animals on your property.

Exemptions

• Calves are not required to be tagged with an EID if they are going direct to slaughter (bobby calf) and are under 30 days old.
• Cattle and deer that the PICA deems too dangerous to tag qualify for the unsafe to tag (UTT) exemption, provided they are going direct to slaughter.

All your recording in one place

Using LIC as your NAIT information provider means you can continue to record all your information in one place. 

Being opted in with us means you can:

• Record NAIT information when buying, selling and culling animals in MINDA.
• Record animals at grazing or any other temporary location (e.g. run off block etc.) for compliance purposes, without having to sell the animals from your MINDA records.
• Assign EID tags to animals in MINDA (Birth ID EID tags are assigned automatically when the calf is recorded in MINDA, provided the tags were purchased through LIC).
• Register birth information for calves (provided the tags were purchased through LIC before the calving is recorded).

LIC as my NAIT Information Provider

When you choose to use LIC as your NAIT information provider, we will send animal information from your MINDA records to NAIT when there is NAIT data to send along. 

Events that include NAIT information in MINDA are:

• Calving
• Assign EID
• Purchase
• Removals 
• NAIT movement.

LIC are only able to send the information that you record, so when using LIC as your NAIT Information Provider you warrant that all information provided to LIC, and in turn to NAIT, will be accurate, up to date, timely and complete. As a person in charge of animals (PICA) you remain responsible for compliance with the Act, in respect of all the PICA duties and responsibilities.

If you are using MINDA to meet your NAIT obligations

We encourage you to: 

• Use MINDA - it has extra validation such as checking if a NAIT number is valid, which helps avoid issues when multiple users are entering data and highlights any issues (e.g. locations, EIDs).
• Promptly approve events in the Holding Pen. A pending event cannot be sent to NAIT.
• Check your ‘NAIT groups’ in MINDA - make sure animals are recorded where they should be.
• Check your ‘Animals without EID group’ in MINDA - NAIT information cannot be recorded for an animal that does not have an EID assigned.
• Check the number of animals you have registered in NAIT - make sure this matches the number in MINDA. 

NAIT and Tags

NAIT tags can only be used at the specific NAIT location number they were issued for. This is to improve animal traceability and on farm tagging practices. If you order your NAIT tags through LIC and they have a Participant code printed on them, these can be used for animals at other NAIT locations if OSPRI is contacted to transfer the tag file to the new location prior to the tagging. More information can be found on OSPRI's website.

We make it easy for you when you order EIDs through us.

Birth ID EIDs automatically link to your calves when you record them in MINDA. Replacement EIDs are loaded into your EID tag bucket, allowing you to assign through MINDA when required. 

Things to note:

• Once an EID is assigned to an animal either by automatically linking to the associated Birth ID via a calving or by assigning the replacement EID in MINDA, we will submit the registration details to NAIT without you having to record anything else.
• EIDs are lifetime tags so it is illegal to remove these tags from the animal’s ear without first receiving permission from OSPRI to do so. You can call the NAIT team on 0800 482 463 to request permission.
• LIC and OSPRI recommend Birth ID EIDs are ordered for new calves for easier identification and recording. 

Important to remember

• For LIC to send any information to NAIT, animals must have an EID number assigned to them in MINDA before any movement can be recorded with NAIT. 
• Information needs to be approved in the Holding Pen for the information to be sent to NAIT. 
• When selling animals in MINDA you will need the buyers Participant Code, Herd Code and NAIT number.
• When purchasing animals in MINDA you will need the sellers NAIT number.
• NAIT does not send information back to MINDA, so anything recorded directly in the NAIT system will not be reflected in MINDA. Our recommendation is to do all of your recording for MINDA animals in MINDA.

Frequently Asked Questions