eNVD a game changer for Kerwee Feedlot
Key points:
- Kerwee Feedlot is using eNVDs to complete all consignments
- eNVD is an efficient way of digitally completing the LPA NVD and all consignment paperwork
- Kerwee Feedlot vendors also using eNVD system
Just six to seven minutes is all it takes for Kerwee Feedlot Livestock Manager, Stevie-Lee Wayman, to complete a livestock consignment of 200 head or more grainfed cattle using the electronic National Vendor Declaration (eNVD) system.
Located at Jondaryan, on Queensland’s Darling Downs, Kerwee Feedlot has a 20,200-head capacity, operating as part of the vertically integrated Kerwee Group, supplying Wagyu and long-fed Angus cattle for its Stockyard Beef brands.
With hundreds of cattle transported in and out of the feedlot each day, the business started using the eNVD system when it was first launched to industry in 2017, as a digital alternative to paper NVDs.
Kerwee is Livestock Production Assurance (LPA) accredited and operates under other quality assurance programs including the National Feedlot Accreditation Scheme (NFAS), and is also a registered Meat Standards Australia (MSA) producer.
Answer questions once
Stevie-Lee said the eNVD is an efficient way of digitally completing not just the LPA NVD, but all consignment paperwork needed to comply to NFAS and MSA requirements.
“Each lot we send might be up to 200 head. In a good season, we are sending out 600 to 700 head a week and that includes six or seven different lots comprising heifers, steers, Angus, Natural Angus and Wagyu,” Stevie-Lee said.
“When we’re trucking out during the week I’m probably doing eight or nine different LPA NVDs, depending on how many lots we’re sending. When we send cattle to the abattoir, we’ve got a lot of paperwork that accompanies the LPA NVD.
“The ability to complete all of the necessary paperwork online using the LPA eNVD means we’re not having to fill in everything three times like you have to with paper versions.
“The updated eNVD system allows you to only answer questions once – the answers to similar questions are automatically applied across the relevant forms.
“It now takes us only six or seven minutes maximum to complete all the paperwork for each lot, compared to ten to fifteen minutes for each lot using paper versions. That is a huge time saving.”
Templates save time
The eNVD system features templates. This means that if a producer is consigning livestock of the same type, or to the same destination, or with all the same forms on a regular basis, they can use a template to avoid filling in the same information over and over again.
Other stakeholders in Kerwee Feedlot’s supply chain are also using the eNVD system.
“About a quarter of our vendors are using the eNVD system. When I log in, I can see their eNVDs in the system,” Stevie-Lee said.
Kerwee Feedlot was involved in trialling the updated eNVD before its release to the industry this year and Stevie-Lee believes it’s important for users to provide feedback to enable Integrity Systems Company to continuously update and fine-tune the system.
“I’ve always been involved in the trials and provided feedback to help refine the system; no system is perfect,” Stevie-Lee said.
“I’m very used to the eNVD system because I’m using it so often. For people who haven’t used it or aren’t using it so often, the help boxes are there to help people through and I think that’s a really great tool.”
More information about the eNVD and FAQs are available on our NVD page.
For simple step-by-step instructions on how to use the eNVD platform, watch this video.