Kaikōura Dairy Farmer Fined $35,000 for NAIT Compliance Failures

A Kaikōura dairy farmer, Trevor Ronald Bolton, has been fined $35,000 after being found guilty of multiple failures to comply with the National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) system. The case was prosecuted by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), and the sentence was handed down in the Kaikōura District Court on March 6, 2026.

Under the NAIT Act, all movements of cattle or deer must be reported to the NAIT organization, OSPRI, within 48 hours, and animals must be tagged and registered by the time they are 180 days old, or before they are moved off the farm. Bolton, who manages two large dairy farms, failed to register 269 NAIT animals, did not declare the movement of 571 animals off the farm, and neglected to report the movement of 83 animals onto his farms. Each of these failures resulted in a fine of $11,666.

Paul Soper, MPI District Manager of Animal Welfare and NAIT Compliance Upper South, emphasized the importance of the NAIT system for tracking potentially affected animals and managing disease or biosecurity risks. He remarked, "The system is critical to New Zealand’s ability to trace potentially affected animals to manage disease or biosecurity incursions." He further stated that non-compliance with NAIT poses a risk to the entire agricultural sector.

The NAIT system is integral to New Zealand's efforts to control diseases such as Mycoplasma bovis, which can have significant impacts on the livestock industry. MPI's rigorous enforcement of compliance underscores the sector's commitment to biosecurity and animal welfare.