Did BSE cause traceability?

[per]

I guess that depends on to what extent you want to go. The average cow calf guy is already bearing the cost without the chain being completed. We have an RFID tag that is capable of bearing any info we want. Most don't have a $500 tag reader. A buck or two a head. If you are going direct to a feedlot they already have all the necessary hardware and so do most packing plants. That just leaves the auction markets that just completed a test run on cost and speed of commerce use. More work to be done there. Help me out here RS are us guys at the bottom going to bear any more cost than we already are? Maybe higher selling fee? What am I missing here?

[SADIE]

Per

It came out at the June 15 Tribunal hearing in Saskatoon and the June 23 hearing in Swift Current. You have to have a reliable permanent ID before you can enforce traceability.

July 2010 Saskatchewan Beef Business Magazine Page 9 RFID TAGS ARE ON TRIAL

THE THEME: EXPERIENCED CATTLEMAN KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BULLSHIT AND MANURE.

LOTS OF EVIDENCE OF RETENTION LOSS:

1)6% Loss with every turn of the cattle through an auction mart.

2)12% Loss from fall calf to finished cattle in feedlot.

3)Cow Calf Herd---Cow herd retention is after 2 years 30-50% retention loss per year. The main cause is the back buttons break down and come apart.


Why do we need to purchase RFID readers? SO we can scan the cowshit and pastures to get the RFID numbers so that we can "deregister them with the Administrator and not be liable under section 185?"

More information later. How are they going to enforce this?

[per]

Not sure what tag they use in Australia or bolus or what but they claim 99% plus retention and speed of commerce reading. I am aware of the retention issue here and have plenty of experience in this business. I agree we need a reliable tag but that is a logistics issue surrounding whether there should be traceability or not. Our current tag is an albatross but that should give us incentive to find a better way. I am firmly in your corner on the issue of retention and the problems with the CFIA. Two different conversations in my mind.

[SADIE]

THe topic still is traceability of a product using a serial number. Until this can be applied and stay with the animal traceability cannot be achieved.

As soon as the word "scanner" is mentioned I ask how much more "taxpayer dollar" and Cattleman's dollar must come forward to buy scanners when the serial number isnt on the package. The mention of "no reads", no tags.

At the hearings and public and now to political people this whole project is making the GUN REGISTRY LOOK LIKE A GREAT PIECE OF POLITICAL WORK.

[Happytrails]

It is apparent that there is some confusion between traceability and livestock movement tracking. Traceability in my view would involve having a beast permanently identified and connected to the owner (probably the one who raised the calf). Movement tracking in its most ambitious form is a make work project which attempts to document every step the calf takes. Not very interesting or profitable IMHO. I think we should declare if we support traceability or movement tracking. I'm all for traceability; I even brand my calves so everyone knows where they came from. Movement tracking beyond that which LIS does is make work for no pay for me and my family. As I've said before it is a hoax and a scam and I hope there is enough opposition to kill it. To Per, when the auction markets go the way of prairie grain elevators you will realize what you're missing. HT

[littledoggie]

Sometimes I wonder if the whole point is to make things difficult for us. Just think how easy it would be to trace "protein that's made in a vat".

[per]

Well I just wanted to throw it out there one more time to test the lay of the land. HT, our definitions are not to far off each other and yes LIS does a fantastic job of traceability. Tracking is a different topic and I also agree that there is very little use or appetite for tracking in it's extream form (there are some overlaps). As far as Auction Markets go I have made every effort to use them and do believe they are the ultimate price discovery method. Having given some thought to your prairie elevator comment, I am surprised at how little I miss those old sentinels other that it forces a guy to learn how to use a GPS when flying rather than swooping down to read the name of the town on the elevator. In some ways that change has made my operation more efficient. I don't haul my own grain anymore and no longer need staff or equipment to do that. Just a simple fast loading system. Once the B train leaves the yard I am free to do something else like pontificate on here.

[grassfarmer]

Real simple answer - go to double tagging and then you don't lose identities. Real simple to implement too - the Government just tells the tag manufacturers to hand over 2 instead of 1 for the same money. They will - it's been done elsewhere. To all the naysayers that p m that we can't do this, can't to that, don't want to do this or that how do we stay competitive (or become competitive?) as an exporting nation in a world market where others have implemented systems far ahead of ours?
And don't say quit tagging and drop the SRM protocols because this isn't going to fly.

[smcgrath76]

I am not sure how many more tags we can
fit in the ear...
We tag calves with a Ztag floppy and CCIA
tag. We keep replacements and brand them,
and tag them with a DNA collection tag
that is then sent to the lab and DNA
stored on every breeding animal. We also
tag all breeding females with a #2 steel
curl lock tag. I will need bigger ears if
we get too many more tags...

[per]

You're already doing what GF suggested. No more tags needed.