CLARESHOLM, Alta. – Livestock identification services can help producers in more ways than many think.
Don Milligan of Alberta Agriculture says a growing number of customers want to use electronic identification for value adding, production management and complete animal records.
“There are a lot of benefits we can use in the industry that we are not taking advantage of,” he told a group of beef producers at a cow-calf seminar in Claresholm on Jan. 24.
Two of the most important uses for livestock ID include traceability and tracking animal movement in the event of disease.
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In the case of an animal diagnosed with tuberculosis at slaughter, its lifetime movement could be traced and investigators could learn which animals it mingled with and track them for disease testing. From there, the area could be quarantined while the rest of the country continues trading livestock.
Expectations for a more efficient system are also increasing as the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency continues to adopt radio frequency ID technology. A number of scanners and readers are on the market that provide a range of services.
Milligan said any approved system must handle cattle flow quickly without extra work for staff. The data must flow seamlessly from readers to computer systems using wireless technology.
It needs to be ISO compliant and portable and easy to use in all sorts of conditions including extreme weather. Back-up systems are needed to handle missing or nonfunctioning tags to account for all cattle.
Alberta Agriculture, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the ID agency are examining a variety of ear tag reader systems including scanners in chute panels, readers along fence lines and overhead readers in chutes, pens and other handling facilities on farms, auctions and packing plants.
Federal packing plants are already equipped with readers but Milligan said provincial plants need upgrades.
“They kill one percent of the beef, but present 99 percent of the risk,” he said.
The ID agency is one of the first to be called in the event of an animal disease. In the case of the most recent BSE diagnosis in Alberta, about 100 cattle were traced through the system to find the stricken cow’s herd mates.
To further improve its services, the agency has upgraded its system to capture birth date information, premise registration, movement and siting data, group lot identification, zoning for health purposes and a disaster recovery system to preserve information in the event the database located in Calgary is damaged.
While producers may still use plastic bar code tags for now, all cattle leaving their premises must wear approved radio frequency identification tags with a unique number by Dec. 31, 2007.
Although many producers have complained they must retag cows after that date, the agency board decided a cutoff must be established and the CFIA will not recognize bar code tags after the deadline.
“There is a need to put the RFID tags in as soon as possible,” said Megan Gauley of the CCIA.
