WITH the recent Australian record of 59,487 sheep tags scanned on sheep sold in one day last December at the Hamilton Regional Livestock Exchange, it may be of interest to many local graziers to learn that the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) concept has a significant potential technological augmentation on the horizon.

A New Zealand-based scientist, has with his project team, been working on adapting facial recognition systems for not just telling sheep apart, but tracking behaviour and assessing problems before they become visible, and his early days were here in Western Victoria.