Property Identification Code (PIC)

What is a Property Identification Code (PIC)?

A Property Identification Code (PIC) is an eight-character code allocated by the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) or an equivalent authority in each state or territory to identify a livestock-producing property. Producers must have a PIC to move livestock on and off a property – it forms the basis of Australia’s food safety and traceability programs.

There are differences between states and territories in how PICs are managed. In some states, amalgamation of separate PICs owned by the same entity, into a single PIC, is allowed. In other states, one property can be issued multiple PICs if there are livestock owned by multiple entities on the property. It is important to understand the requirements for your state or territory.

How are PICs used in the red meat integrity system?

PIC numbers, rather than properties are the basis for all Integrity System programs:

On-farm assurance, delivered by the LPA program, is PIC based. This means every PIC that is part of the LPA program must be accredited.
The NLIS program also relies on PICs to ensure traceability of animals through the supply chain. NLIS tags/devices are issued to specific PICs and are applied to any livestock born there (Breeder Tags) or livestock that have been moved there and require a replacement tag (Post Breeder tags).
All livestock movements must be recorded on the NLIS database, identifying the ‘from’ and ‘to’ PICs for the movement, as well as the individual animals via their NLIS tags (or mobs of animals for mob-based transfers).
Statuses can be assigned to PICs that indicate particular circumstances such as PICs that have accessed cotton trash. For more information on PIC statuses please refer to Tech Tip - PIC and device status codes).
Accredited LPA PICs are required to use LPA NVDs for every livestock movement between different PICs and record this information on their NVD, making PICs central to LPA NVD recording.

How to obtain a PIC?

PICs are issued by state and territory departments to identify parcels of land used for agricultural purposes. To obtain a PIC, contact the relevant authority in your state or territory.

Is your PIC LPA accredited?

Producers can check if their PIC is accredited using the accreditation search tool.

Access state and territory information for obtaining a PIC, ordering NLIS tags, complying with livestock movement and NLIS requirements.

Variation between state and territory requirements, means producers must be aware of what applies to their situation, especially when moving livestock across borders.

Tools & Resources

Search the PIC Register

PIC and device status codes

View devices on my property

PIC reconciliation by manual upload

PIC reconciliation by file upload

FAQs

On-farm assurance, delivered by the LPA program, is PIC based. This means every PIC that is part of the LPA program must be accredited, even when owned by the same producer or entity. PICs are issued by state and territory departments to identify parcels of land used for agricultural purposes. To obtain a PIC, contact your state or territory authority.

ISC recommends producers check the requirements for their state or territory – some require each entity to have their own PIC while others allow multiple LPA accounts to be placed on a single PIC.

If more than one producer owns livestock on the same PIC, ISC’s preference is for each to have their own LPA accreditation.

If permissible in your state or territory, livestock owned by separate entities on the one PIC can be managed under a single LPA accreditation. It is important to note that in this circumstance the nominated person for the LPA accreditation will be responsible for meeting all LPA requirements for all livestock that reside on the PIC.

To enable third-party access to an LPA account, a third-party authorisation form will need to be completed, signed and returned to ISC. This form can be downloaded here, accessed from within your online LPA account or if you need assistance by contacting ISC Customer Service on 1800 683 111 or email lpa@integritysystems.com.au.

For any new property purchased, the new owner should inform LPA of the purchase and seek LPA accreditation for that PIC, even if they are an existing LPA-accredited producer.

You can do this by:

accessing your online LPA account
contacting the ISC Customer Service Centre on 1800 683 111
emailing lpa@integritysystems.com.au.

If you are unsure of a device’s whereabouts and need to remove it from your PIC, you should assign the ‘inactive’ (IA) status to the device.

Any device you have not yet used should remain ‘active’ on the database. Any such device should not be assigned the ‘inactive’ status while it is awaiting use.

Refer to ISC's NLIS how-to guide for assigning a device status for more information.

A PIC reconciliation compares the tags you have on your property with what the NLIS database has recorded for your property. Any differences must be reconciled so the database accurately reflects what animals (devices) are on your property.

Situations where a PIC reconciliation is useful include:

If the owner of a property you have purchased has not done a transfer of their stock off the property when you took over.
Stock have died over time or during a natural disaster.
NLIS tags have been lost.
You have never done a PIC reconciliation for your property and so need to tidy up what animals are on your property.

Conducting a PIC reconciliation involves scanning all animals on your property and the spare NLIS tags you have to generate a file of tag numbers which you can upload to your account in the NLIS database. These tags are ‘active’. This enables the system to compare the tags assigned to your PIC on the NLIS database and what is active in animals on your property.

A PIC reconciliation will identify two groups of animals – those that are on your NLIS account but not physically on your property (either lost tags or animals that have not been transferred off). These can generally be set to ‘inactive’. The other group are animals (devices) that you do physically have but are not appearing on your NLIS account. Tracking down where this group came from to complete the transfer may be easy or difficult – the visual tag that has the PIC number of the animal’s place of birth may help you when going through your NVD records.

Access ISC's NLIS how-to guides for conducting a PIC reconciliation (by file upload) and conducting a PIC reconciliation (by typing in details) for assistance with conducting a PIC reconciliation.

Contact ISC Customer Service for further assistance or contact your state agricultural department. ISC recommends conducting a PIC reconciliation at least once per year.