The gold mine of information that could be gleaned from radio frequency identification ear tags is going unexploited, says Ray Bittner, a Manitoba Agriculture adviser.
“Why are the people who have to put the RFID tags in not getting information back about where that animal ended up and how good it was? It’s baffling to me,” said Bittner, during his speech at a recent feeder school meeting in Virden, Man.
Bittner, who is also a beef producer near Ashern, Man., said that most producers are in the business of selling commodity beef that ends up as undifferentiated meat in supermarket coolers where the lowest price is the law.
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“You know those little Styrofoam packages with cellophane over the top? Basically, all it’s got is the weight and the price in the corner,” he said. “It looks good, you’d probably want to eat it, but there’s not much information there.”
The days of excuses for that kind of marketing are over, said Bittner.
RFID tags, which cattle are required by law to carry for their entire lives, could be used to track an animal all the way from the farm to the packing plant, providing valuable information at every turn.
Of all the checkoffs, association fees and commissions that take money out of producer’s pockets, the RFID tag is one expense that has yet to start paying off, he said.
The reason is that all the stakeholders in the beef chain have failed to come up with a way to work together to exchange information.
“Three dollars a head. Is it an expense, or is it a benefit? It’s just one more hole in the ear. You don’t get any information back.”
The possibilities are “amazing,” he said.
“We could be tracking animals in the feedlot with automated readings. Every time an animal walks up to the feed bunk or waterer, we could get a weight on that animal.”
As a marketing tool, the tags could be used to assure consumers that the meat they are eating is safe. BSE was a marketing fiasco, Bittner noted, but it didn’t kill anyone. Future food safety problems might be a different story.
Japanese consumers are able to access traceability and producer information via touch screens at their local supermarket. But the latest trend in that country allows shoppers to find the place, time and mode of production, and receive a message from the producer, by punching in a packaging number on their cellphones.
“Wow, anybody who wants something special out of their meat-eating experience, they can make sure that it’s there,” he said. “We’re a long ways behind.”
Blame for the slow uptake of new technological advances lies with all parts of the beef industry, from the cow-calf producer, auction marts, order buyers, packing plants and retailers, he said.
“Whose fault is it? It’s basically everyone’s. We haven’t got it together.”
Stubborn independence and the distances separating various parts of the beef industry haven’t helped, Bittner added. Not to mention the fact that parts of the chain survive on profits extracted from their counterparts upstream.
“Face it. We just about all hate each other. The packers always think the feedlots are gouging them, and the feedlots think the packers are gouging them. And it goes that way all down the chain.”
Information that might help in marketing beef could include age, breed, whether it is hormone or antibiotic-free, its birthplace, humane treatment claims, type of feed and whether it was raised organically or on a family farm.
“Some of these things really ring with consumers,” Bittner said.
Information could also be forwarded to future owners who might like to know more about the animals they buy, such as their vaccination, antibiotic or weaning history.
Many cattle are “naturally raised” whether by accident or intent, but few producers are collecting premiums for their efforts.
Bittner said hog producers are able to evaluate the success or failure of specific hybrid lines. Beef producers, however, generally just raise the breed they like best, and hope for the best.
A flow of information through the RFID system would allow ranchers to weed out the losers and improve their herds based on the characteristics that earn them more money.
Information on animals that got sick on arrival at the feedlot, oversized carcasses, lack of tenderness, broken needles and age verification data would all be of value to producers.
“Wouldn’t it be good to know what the slaughter grade was of the calves that you produced? Was it built right? Did it have the meat in the right place?”
Bittner said that Joplin Regional Stockyards in Carthage, Missouri, the largest auction mart in the United States, which sells 460,000 head per year, is running a computer database system designed to function as a for-profit information service.
“They are actually doing this,” he said. “So we’re getting behind.”
