In this guide, we will go through registering animals with a date of birth and location of birth.
Once you’ve selected the NAIT tags that you wish to register, press Continue and you will be able to provide the animal details. If you’re registering multiple animals, these details will apply to all of them.
Select whether the animal is cattle or deer, and the production type of the animal.
When providing an animal’s birth date, it requires you to include the day. This can be approximate if you aren’t sure. What’s most important is that you provide the month and the year the animal was born. If it’s easiest, you can choose the first or last day of the month.
The animal’s NAIT number of birthplace will be auto-populated to the NAIT number you’re registering the animals on. If this is incorrect, you can replace this with the correct NAIT number for the animal’s birth location. This information is crucial for an animal’s lifetime traceability and provides important detail when tracing animals in the event of a disease outbreak.
Once you’ve entered this, you can press Register, and the system will let you know if the registration was a success. Now, your animals are registered with important traceability information.
Please remember — all animals need to be tagged and registered before 180 days of birth, or before their first off-farm movement, whichever comes first. Thank you for supporting traceability and disease management in New Zealand.
From paddock to plate, it starts with a date
Providing animal birth information in NAIT is important for lifetime traceability, disease response and market access requirements.
Why register your animals with a date of birth?
Adding a birth date when you register your animals in NAIT isn't just a tick-box activity — it's part of what makes lifetime traceability possible and it supports stronger disease response. If you're unsure of the actual day, select the first day of the month they were born – this still meets your NAIT obligations. What’s most important is that you provide the month and year the animal was born.
We asked farmers why better NAIT data matters, and here's what they said:
- It strengthens New Zealand's export markets.
- More complete data improves on-farm animal management and decision-making.
- It's the right thing to do.
Find out more
Browse the resources below to find out more.