The Canadian Cattle Identification Agency is up and running with trial projects starting this spring to see what systems work and which ones won’t.
Requests to participate in the trial have come from across Canada and include small and large herds that have as many as 5,000 cows, said Julie Stitt.
Stitt is the newly appointed general manager of the agency based in Calgary at the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association office.
The plan is to attach ear tags to each animal on the farm during calving time or when they are processed at weaning. The tags must be retained all the way to the packing plant for herd of origin identification, said Stitt.
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The identification system is aimed at identifying an animal’s herd of origin for health and food safety purposes, she said.
“If someone wants to use this for carcass information in the future they can add on to the system,” Stitt said.
“Agriculture Canada and Revenue Canada will only have access to the information if there is a problem,” she said.
The problems would include transmissible disease outbreaks like tuberculosis. Individual identification helps veterinarians detect the source of the problem and could eliminate widespread slaughter of animals suspected of carrying a disease.
Researching technology
The trials examine the various types of ear tags and computer technologies. The tags must be visible, readable and must be retained by the individual animals till they reach the packing plant.
The basic tag will contain a visible nine digit number with the country code CAN for Canada and a small bar code. The number retires when the animal dies. Series of numbers will be assigned to producers and the information will be filed by the agency.
The agency is testing technology from several manufacturers.
When a system is selected, producers will be able to buy tags from the manufacturers, distributors or other organizations authorized to carry them.
Funding for the agency comes from the beef industry development fund. A board of directors with representatives from the cattlemen’s association, veterinary, feedlot, packing, purebred, commercial cattle and auction markets industries are overseeing the agency.
