The vendor, who requested anonymity, recalls that in 2016, he asked his local stock agency firm to order his annual requirement of sheep eartags (pre-electronic) to fulfill his NLIS obligations.

However it wasn’t until last Friday, almost two years later, when he attempted to market his breeder’s line of woolcutter wethers, that a diligent inspector from Agriculture Victoria discovered the tag number declared on the vendor’s statement did not match that of the tag attached to the ears of the sheep.

The problem was the leading digit - that is the number ‘3’ signifying the state of Victoria - had not been stamped on any of the tags in the mob.

This rendered the tags ineligible to be used as an approved tag under the NLIS regulations.

Elders Wycheproof auctioneer Kevin Thompson said there had been no attempt to defraud, rather human error.

“It is a simple mistake made by human error, and the vendor has willingly cooperated with the department’s ruling,” Mr Thompson said.

The consequence of the mistake was that 350 head were ordered to be returned home to the vendor’s property, and although were sold privately on the day, were not permitted to be offered in the auction as planned.

A new batch of approved and correctly stamped tags also needed to be re-issued and inserted before the line could continue its journey to the new owner’s property.

The producer from St Arnaud, who has 50 years of experience as a sheep breeder and woolgrower, said the mistake was a timely reminder for all producers to thoroughly check their tags are correctly stamped as ordered.

The producer said the ewe portion of his 2016-drop had since been found to also be carrying the same illegal tags as his disqualified wether line.

A department spokesperson said the incident was a reminder to all Victorian producers that as of January 1, 2019, when an animal is moved between two different Property Identification Codes (PICs), the NLIS database must be notified.

That included private sales of animals, animals being agisted or lent, and animals traded through online selling platforms such as AuctionsPlus, Gumtree and Facebook.

The recording needed to take place within two days of the movement.

According to NLIS regulations, the legal obligation to report the arrival of cattle, sheep and goats rested with the person receiving the livestock.

The receiver may engage someone else to notify the database on their behalf, including the person who dispatched the livestock, a stock agent or the livestock transporter if they are equipped to do so.

The NLIS database needs to be updated with the following information:

Producers who have a property or agistment within the same or neighboring shires can amalgamate these properties under a single PIC.