After the successful roll out of microchipping last year, Harness Racing Victoria (HRV) veterinarians Julia Aspinall, Lesley Hawson and Nick Branson will again be implanting microchips for foals born this 2018 season.
The veterinarians will be accompanying the branding team to ensure that all foals will receive a microchip matched to the foal’s registration and branding details.
This process of branding and microchipping will begin on 30 October 2018 in the Goulburn Valley.
There will be no direct cost to industry participants for the implantation of microchips, nor for the microchips themselves.
Alpha-angle freezebranding will continue to be used as a method for the identification of horses. However, microchipping is an additional identifier that has several benefits. Recording the microchip information ensures that horses can be identified if lost or stolen, or in an emergency such as fire or flood. Microchipping will also assist racing administrators track the movement of horses from property to property to enable accurate records to be established for racing integrity and disease control purposes, and may ultimately replace traditional paper based systems.
Any person seeking any information in relation to microchipping is encouraged to contact the HRV veterinarians on (03) 8378 0340 or (03) 8378 0267.