HANNA, Alta. — Most livestock producers understand why Canada needs a viable traceability system but they are still frustrated over ear tags failures — those that do not scan or get lost.
The Canadian Cattle Identification Agency has approved six radio frequency identification tags but admits quality is variable so they are carrying out research to improve them.
“Industry standards will drive all our changes for tag readability and retention,” said Rick Frederickson, senior manager of traceability at Alberta Agriculture
“It will never be a perfect system. There are going to be lost tags in some situations,” he said at a recent cattle identification workshop in Hanna, Alta.
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The information linked to electronic ear tags can be used to track livestock in the event of a contagious animal disease or emergency. If the system had been working better in 2003, the first BSE case might have been traced faster and perhaps international borders would have reopened sooner to Canadian exports, he said.
Beef, dairy, hogs, bison, sheep, cervids and poultry all have some form of traceability. The horse and goat sectors are still working on acceptable systems to identify animals.
Traceability initiatives are underway around the world. Later this year the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency hopes to host an international traceability technology conference later this year to compare progress and research.
Canada has a number of projects on the go to make traceability seamless, said Paul Laronde, CCIA tag and technology specialist.
Canadian producers need tags that survive extreme heat and cold. They must be reasonably priced. They must be easily scanned and work is underway to develop better mobile readers capable of transmitting information with minimal work for the producer.
Tags are checked after animals are slaughtered to make sure they worked properly. One to two percent of tags do not work so numbers have to be manually typed in.
Some are faulty because of broken antennae wires and the agency wants to see if there is a manufacturing problem.
“We expect tags to work for 10 years,” he said.
“All the tags we have, met the minimum standards but some test better than others,” he said.
However the greatest complaint is tag loss.
The applicator can be the problem or the tags may have been placed into the wrong part of the ear, or the stud and back of the tag may not properly fit.
If a producer does not have a good chute to control the animal’s head, the tag may go in wrong.
The agency is also considering other forms of identification like retinal scans, but there is little interest in further study for livestock uses at this time.
Producers are also asking for easier ways to tag bulls.
A low cost terminal tag is under consideration for big bulls, animals going straight to slaughter or dead stock destined for a renderer. It is a temporary sticky tag similar to a wrap around strip used on luggage at airports.
Tissue sampling tags may also be used. These punch out a little piece of tissue in the ear that can be sent off for parentage testing. That information could go into the CCIA database.
There are six approved tags. All are yellow and carry a maple leaf and “CA” along with a unique 15 digit identification number stamped on the edge and electronically embedded in each tag.
When someone purchases RFID tags, the numbers associated with each package of ear tags are assigned to that individual’s CCIA account.
Those tags are only to be used for cattle with the CCIA account number. This ensures all can be traced back to the farm of origin if needed.
barbara.duckworth@producer.com
