Alberta Agriculture has begun a project to determine an animal’s age by the look in its eyes and mouth.
Photographing an animal’s retina produces an unerring identification, when a digital image of the eye’s rear surface is securely stored and made computer traceable.
Unlike tags, the eye will not fall off. A retinal record provides a traceable animal ID when combined with encrypted, tamper-proof data in a computer program, an authenticated date and a global positioning satellite location.
Age can be verified as well if producers add another photographic record using the animal’s dental record.
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The camera and computer combination used to capture the retina can also capture teeth, ear tags and the information on radio frequency ID buttons.
Internationally, it is generally accepted that if no permanent incisors have begun to erupt, a bovine is less than 24 months old. Provided that the animal is slaughtered within 180 days of an image being taken without those teeth, it creates an accurate record of it being younger than 30 months.
The United States Department of Agriculture recently accepted the technology as a legal certification of age for bovine slaughter.
Jim Hansen of Alberta Agriculture said his department will work with Optibrand Ltd. LLC, the Colorado company that created the system, to further develop it to meet Canadian Food Inspection Agency requirements.
“We’ll be putting what looks like about 10,000 animals through the chutes this summer and early fall to test the system, and once we get it rolling, include CFIA and other parties in it to get their feedback,” he said.
Hansen said the project should be able to report its findings by late 2006 or early 2007.
While the retinal system works well as a tracing protocol at all steps in the production chain, the age verification will pay the biggest and earliest dividends. Cattle feeders are faced with steep discounts on calves that sprout early incisors. The ability to show these animals are younger than 30 months will soon cover the $3,000 cost of the equipment and the $1 per head, per animal lifetime, user fee.
Hansen hopes the project will pay its own dividends through CFIA certification by 2007.
