RED DEER – Canada’s national cattle identification program is expanding
to include other species.
Bison and dairy producers have already joined the Canadian Cattle
Identification Agency and sheep farmers are in the process of doing so,
said CCIA manager Julie Stitt.
The sheep industry requires legislative changes to its regulations
before launching a full identification program.
“We’re halfway there and we’ve got a verbal agreement to store numbers
with CCIA,” said Richard Stern of the Canadian Sheep Federation.
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The federation is also investigating various types of tags, which
producers say must be easy to read and low cost.
Each animal receives a unique identification number and must be tagged
before it leaves the farm. This is a departure from an earlier proposal
to assign animals flock numbers.
While Alberta producers widely denounced a mandatory tagging program,
figures from the agency show the province has adopted the tags with
greater frequency than others.
“Based on percentage of beef cow tags, their uptake is higher than
every other province, even though they were the most verbal about it,”
Stitt said.
Suppliers have issued 21 million tags and 9.5 million numbers have been
entered in the CCIA database.
The program’s next phase is the July 1 deadline when tagging becomes
mandatory.
On that date, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency may fine producers
who sell cattle or bison without approved tags. Fines start at $500 for
the first offence.
The program focuses on animal health. If a reportable disease is
detected in live animals or at the processing level, the herd of origin
can be traced almost immediately.
“It won’t keep diseases out, but we can quickly identify and eradicate
them to keep our borders open,” Stitt told the annual Alberta
Agricultural Economics Association meeting in Red Deer.
“We don’t want a major wreck in the industry.”
So far, the CFIA has launched 10 trace backs when animals reached the
packing plant with suspicious symptoms. This prevented widespread
testing and quarantine of animals.
- ine different tag manufacturers have been approved and tests are
ongoing for various tag styles.
Stitt predicts that more people will shift to electronic tags because
they are smaller and more easily read using radio frequencies. Button
shaped, they are about the size of a loonie so there is less chance of
losing them.
“There are two already approved but they are not widely used,” she
said.
Ongoing audits in packing plants are further evaluating tags for
retention and readability. The tag needs to be read within 10 seconds
as the carcass moves down the packing plant rail.
The CCIA already knows some tags aren’t working well and believes
producers will determine which they like best.
As well, the tags’ purpose is expanding.
Alberta and Ontario cattle producers have approved the release of
information to track stray animals. An authorized person such as a
brand inspector or RCMP officer must make the request for an owner’s
name.
“When they call us with a number from a stray, we call the herd of
origin first to get permission to release it,” Stitt said.
People have readily agreed because they want their animals back.
“It’s just another level of protection.”
Another voluntary trial in the planning stages involves tagging cows
living near Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba, where
tuberculosis and brucellosis in deer and elk are an ongoing concern.
Cattle will be tagged and tracked within a specific zone within the
park’s buffer area to monitor their movement and contact with wildlife.
