Cattle identification tags are here to stay, so people should try to make the most of them, producers were told during the Canadian Angus Association annual convention in Brandon last week.
“Look at the tag not as a pain in the neck, as some people do, but as a benefit to your farm,” said Clay Ross, western regional manager for Allflex Canada, a manufacturer of electronic ID systems for livestock.
Ross said the ID tags can be useful at the farm, but he said the greatest benefit to cow-calf producers comes after the animals leave the farm.
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Because the national ID tags stay with an animal from the farm through to the packer, commercial cow-calf producers who make the effort may be able to find out how well their cattle performed at a feedlot and how well the carcasses of those animals grade.
By fostering ties with feedlots and packers, and having the data to show their cattle are of higher quality, producers could earn premiums on future sales of their livestock.
The data from feedlots and packers also could help cow-calf operations identify strengths in their herds or areas for improvement in their breeding programs.
“You have to have a desire to get that information back at the end of the slaughter to benefit as a cow-calf,” Ross said.
“Traditionally some people have weaned into an auction barn to be done with the cattle. They want nothing more to do with them.
“Not knowing the performance of your weaners is like having a racing car without a speedometer. You don’t know how fast the damn car can go.”
The national cattle ID program continues to undergo changes, such as the phasing out of the dangle bar-coded tags in favour of the electronic ones. As of September 2006, all cattle leaving a farm will need to have an electronic ID tag.
Another topic of some discussion is whether the tags should go in the left or right ear of cattle. The Canadian Cattle Identification Agency has suggested the tags be placed in the left ear, said Ross, but that has not been made a requirement.
Ross said regardless of which ear the tag is placed in, it should go as close to the head of the animal as possible. That helps reduce the risk that it could get torn out and lost.
