Who must be registered as a biosecurity entity

If you own or keep any of the following in Queensland, you must be registered as a biosecurity entity:

• 1 or more
  • cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, bison, buffalo, deer
  • alpacas, llamas, or other animals from the Camelidae family
  • horses, ponies, donkeys, mules, zebras or other animals from the Equidae family
• 100 or more birds that either
  • are raised for human consumption (e.g. poultry)
  • are raised for the production of eggs for human consumption (e.g. poultry)
  • have been released into free flight since they started being kept in captivity (e.g. pigeons)
• 1 or more European honey bee hives.

You need to register if you:

• are a landowner
• are a lessee
• agist your animals on someone else's land
• keep beehives on someone else's land.

A person, persons or organisation can be registered as a biosecurity entity.

If you own or keep livestock or beehives but would like to discuss an exemption, email rbe@daf.qld.gov.au.

Holding facilities

The biosecurity entity is generally the owner of the animals. However, you must also be registered if you operate a holding facility where livestock are kept temporarily, even if you do not own the animals kept there.

Holding facilities include:

• veterinarian clinics that receive livestock or horses for treatment
• showgrounds or sporting grounds
• local government pound yards
• animal refuges
• saleyards
• clearing dips
• abattoirs or slaughterhouses
• live export and transport depots
• stock routes.

How registration improves biosecurity

To manage emergency incidents, we need to know where susceptible animals and beehives are and who is responsible for keeping the animals/hives. Registration allows us to communicate directly with you so we can act quickly in an emergency response.

Biosecurity entity registration and other systems

Biosecurity entity registration and the property identification code (PIC) system work together to improve biosecurity:

• A PIC relates to the land where animals are kept.
• The registered biosecurity entity is the person, people or organisation responsible for the day-to-day keeping and care of the animals. This is not always the property owner associated with a PIC, e.g. if the owner of the animals leases the property.

Registration also allows livestock owners to use:

• industry quality assurance programs including Livestock Production Assurance (LPA) and PigPass
• the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) which provides permanent identification and traceability of cattle, sheep, pigs and goats.