Parliament's Primary Production Select Committee is recommending a bill to bring in a compulsory tagging for cattle and deer be passed into law.
The National Animal Identification and Tracing scheme will electronically trace the movement and history of livestock.
The Government says the system is designed to limit the trade impact of a disease outbreak by allowing stock to be traced to their home farms.
The committee recommends the scheme be in place for cattle by 1 July next year.
The bill will go back to Parliament for its second and final readings.
But they are not expected to happen before the general election because of a back-log of legislation to be passed.
NAIT planners have already anticipated that by putting off the scheme's implementation until next year.
