John Keiller, a prime lamb and wool producer from Cashmore, north of Portland, said he had received a grant to help purchase an electronic tag panel reader. 

“The reader will help us to record individual lambs at marking time and to follow the future production of twin born ewe lambs in our flock to lift our productivity,” Mr Keiller said. 

Agriculture Victoria said the success of the funding program indicated there was genuine interest among producers in the potential productivity and flock management gains of electronic identification. 

To date, grants totalling nearly $680,000 have been approved to sheep producers. 

The steady stream of applications means the funding, which covers costs up to 50 per cent of eligible equipment cost, is expected to be fully allocated in the next four to six weeks. 

Agriculture Victoria Sheep Electronic Identification director Warren Straw said the grants were a key part of the transition to EID for sheep and goats.

“It’s been great to see how well producers have responded to this opportunity,” Mr Straw said. 

Agriculture Victoria said the early consensus about electronic tagging reforms for sheep and goats was they should be industry led. It said the grants had proven to be a strong momentum builder to help producers adopt the technological benefits of electronic tagging into their farm operations. 

The majority of applications have been for wand and panel readers and have come from Victoria’s sheep producing regions.