WETASKIWIN, Alta. – Adopting a farm traceability program for sheep isn’t as easy as walking into the local farm supply store and buying a kit with instructions.
Producers may be able to buy radio frequency identification (RFID) ear tags or a wand to read them, but there is no system complete with software and easy directions that allow an animal to be tracked from birth to the feedlot to the slaughter plant.
“Nothing fits together,” said Susan Hosford, a business development specialist with Alberta Agriculture who is trying to develop a complete lamb traceability system from birth to slaughter.
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Electronic identification now available comes in bits and pieces and few farmers have the time, expertise or desire to link ear tags to computer software programs.
A three year carcass sire quality program at Lakeland College that used RFID tags convinced Hosford of the value of electronic tags rather than trying to decipher the handwriting of inexperienced students scratching numbers on a piece of paper.
“The amount of mistakes with reading ear tags dropped dramatically with the RFID tags,” said Hosford, who launched the lamb traceability pilot project in 2007.
Sheep have been required to wear a Canadian Sheep Identification Program ear tag since 2004, but traceability is more than just ear tags.
Hosford said a complete traceability system is like having a car. If drivers want to use a car they need gas stations, mechanics, roads and parts.
For a lamb traceability program to work, producers need tags and readers available on the farm, in transport trucks, at auctions and at abattoirs. It all needs to be linked together with useful, accessible computer software.
“There is a realization we really do need a whole system if you’re going to get the benefits at the farm level,” she said.
Hosford believes data management will make the system worthwhile for producers. Instead of shuffling through piles of paper to figure out which lambs should be shipped or which ewes were bred to which rams, a computer software program will produce detailed reports on production, breeding and individual carcass quality.
“We’re hoping in the long run the system will pay back in management answers,” she said.
The provincial government hasn’t set a deadline for mandatory traceability, but Hosford believes it’s only a matter of time.
Martin Kaiser, who has a 1,600 head flock at Wetaskiwin, Alta., and is participating in the traceability project, believes he will eventually see benefits despite the initial hassles.
“I think it will be worth the effort.”
He uses RFID tags and a hand-held reader to record lambs’ birth, weight, medication and shipping dates. As soon as a ewe shows signs of mastitis, its ear tag is recorded and the animals are shipped before the next lambing. An electronic scale automatically weighs and sorts the lambs ready for slaughter.
“As a production tool it’s going to be very fantastic. As traceability – well ultimately we’ll have to have it,” said Kaiser, who worries the ear tag costs will be another expense with no financial benefit.
The RFID tags now cost $3 to $4 each, which Kaiser said eats much of the profit.
Hosford is searching for ways to reduce the cost and find an affordable traceability system.
Shearwell Data of Great Britain was the only company Hosford could find with a complete traceability system. It supplied ear tags and training during the project’s first year. With more companies developing electronic ear tag systems, Hosford hopes prices will eventually fall.
This year the project will expand to include 5,000 ewes in 12 producer flocks that are different sizes and use a combination of electronic devices.
“We really, really want a broad base of experience,” she said.
Testing will be done this year on an RFID system linked to Sunterra Food’s packing plant in Innisfail that will allow producers to analyze carcass data.
Next year the goal is to have ear tags in 8,000 to 10,000 lambs with most of the carcasses going to Sunterra and the data returned to producers.
