Mandatory electronic identification tags for millions of sheep and goats will be rolled out nationwide in just over two years.
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Government and industry have set a tight timeframe, with January 1, 2025 the proposed implementation date.
Currently, sheep and goats are only identified visually by a mob based system except for Victoria who introduced electronic tagging in 2016.
Cattle are already individually tagged to help trace any emergency disease outbreak.
The rush for electronic tags for sheep and goats came after the increased threat of FMD and lumpy skin disease entering the country when they were identified in Indonesia in May.
In July the NSW government threw its support behind the urgent development of eIDs for sheep and goats while other state agricultural ministers agreed "in principle" to work on a national approach to adopting an electronic livestock tracing scheme.
At a follow-up meeting in September, despite some previous push-back from wary state governments, a major traceability reform led by the Albanese government was agreed to with the 2025 target.
The agreement specifically highlights sheep and goats and said any scheme needs to be "practical to implement, industry-led and cost-efficient".
The compulsory tags are intended to assist the traceability of all susceptible livestock in the event of a local disease outbreak, and swiftly.
EIDs allow scanners to record an animal's presence at certain locations and identify other livestock with which it came into contact, speeding up the time it takes authorities to track those infected with a disease.
Studies have estimated more than $50 million in economic losses over a 10-year period if a medium to large scale FMD outbreak were to occur in Australia.
However, criticism and backlash is anticipated from industry concerning the implementation of any compulsory sheep eIDs.
One hurdle will be the cost and challenge of fixing electronic ear tags to the nation's 68 million-strong and growing sheep flock.
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WoolProducers Australia chief executive officer Jo Hall said whilst WPA are supportive of mandatory eIDs for sheep for biosecurity reasons, the support is contingent on equitable funding, and that every state jurisdiction implements the same rules and rolls it out in the same timeframe.
"There has to be cost sharing between industry and government. It is very much our expectation that there will be significant government contribution and not just for the establishment of the system but also for the ongoing maintenance of the system," Ms Hall said.
"We have seen it work really well in Victoria where they have an ongoing tag tender.
"I am not specifically saying that is what we are calling for, but we have that expectation that government assistance is rolled out nationally."
She said biosecurity is a shared responsibility between industry and government.
"If we are going down the path of individual electronic identification for biosecurity purposes, there is an expectation that we are doing this to maintain market access which at the end of the day helps the public through the contribution to our economy," Ms Hall said.
"We expect shared responsibility through funding and government has to play their part."
Ms Hall said there have been anecdotal concerns from producers surrounding both cost and a practical implementation.
"Our job at WPA is to address producers' concerns and make sure they are actioned. That includes funding, but also practical implementation," she said.
"The 2025 timeframe is achievable, albeit aspirational.
"What we won't accept is individual states doing their own thing. If in principle, the agreement to start phasing it in on January 1, 2025, then we expect all states to do so."
The office of Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt was contacted to provide clarity around funding the national roll out but had not responded at the time of publishing.
