AB339VTH7

[SASKFARMER3]

Since Sunday we have been at a neighbours getting his last 1000 acres done! Never leave a fellow farmer behind!

[grassfarmer]

Really I think this is much ado about nothing. Does it really matter if they use a Legal Land Description, PID #, your ranch name, your mailing address as an identifier? Doesn't to me.

We had a system in Scotland that was introduced with the brucellosis eradication program in the 1940s I think. Our "herd" number was K1462 - K being for Kirkcudbrightshire the county we lived in, 1462 our number within that. That was our 'ID" for 50 years, it went on one side of our metal ear tags with the animal individual number on the other. We had herd of origin traceability without any paperwork or computers. Worked fine until the Euro bureaucrats decided we needed a different "holding" number. So we used it instead, the sun still came up in the morning.

[Happytrails]

GF, apparently some of us accept a change from meaningful to meaningless more easily than others. The part that sticks with me is that we are informed that our ID # is "xyz" and then the same authority asks "what is your ID #"? The gave us the number so they should know it. Why do they have to ask us? Don't they have office staff that could look it up?

[grassfarmer]

On a similar theme HT as I know you are a big supporter of LIS maybe you could explain the logic here.
Culled a cow a few weeks ago, sent her to auction but she was a branded cow I'd bought in 2005. I didn't have a bill of sale for her as our auction was in the habit of returning bills of sale after we'd shown them to them to release the brand hold, then they suddenly quit returning them so I lost my original bill of sale.
So I had to call the auction mart who I bought it from, get them to dig back to their 2005 records then email the bill of sale to the auction I was selling at. Neither auction had time to deal with this as they are busy in the fall run so I had to wait a while to get my cheque.

Two questions - since LIS get paid to brand inspect why don't they have the info? Why should auction marts be expected to do/retain the paperwork for LIS for ever more?

Second question was remember the fuss made about any moves to reading electronic tags at auction level not "slowing commerce"? Does this not apply to LIS and their practices?

[Happytrails]

I don't know if it is right but I feel good after delivering cattle that were counted and brand inspected by a live person.

As far as the cow goes, your problem was that you didn't put your brand on her. When you bought her LIS did their job which was to verify that she had the brand on the manifest. After the sale she is your responsibility which is to either put your brand on her or retain the bill of sale.

Regarding LIS hindering commerce I think that their inspections are the least that needs to be done to verify counts and identify cattle being sold. Cattle people are generally very honest but an independent third party monitor is good insurance IMO.

[grassfarmer]

Lots of times LIS didn't do their job - we have bought many dispersal cows that bore none of the brands listed on the bill of sale. Seems to be a problem only with the dispersals where there are a lot to read.

I never have and never will brand cattle as I consider it an animal welfare issue.

[Horse]

LIS is a joke I have had many animals held because of brands and when you get down to it most were read wrong the first time and by the same inspectors, I will admit some people should never be handed a branding iron because god himself couldnt read some of the messes. As for putting your own brand on sometimes your location is taken but some will just brand right over making a biger mess.

[Happytrails]

So you guys don't like branding. I get it. Fortunately or unfortunately LIS is the only system in we have in place to track the movement of cattle. Luckily they not only look for brands but also count and describe cattle. So they are very usefull in a few ways. Unlike ID tags. Go Scott Schiffner.

[smcgrath76]

I have found LIS very good to work with in both AB and SK. We typically do not brand calves, but always brand retained yearlings and cows. LIS has saved us a few wrecks over the years. I have had one cheque held on me for some bought cows that were shipped (not rebranded) several years ago. I sent a copy of the receipt and got paid right away. Lesson learned. I keep a copy of all my Bills of Sale in a seperate folder until the animals have exited my cowherd. For us brands are applied due to terrain, nearby cows and accessibility issues.
I think where we are missing the boat is not including LIS and other provincial inspection staff in the EID traceability process. Generally speaking they know cattle, they know cattle producers, they can count, and they are concerned with doing a good job. I think working with them on traceability needs is a good fit. I also appreciate that there are issues of turf protection, mandate, provincial differences and traditionalism.
Portability and application of the technology does become an issue when you get into different yard sites, etc. doing inspections. Not everyone is set up to handle cattle through a tag reader.

[Happytrails]

Good comments Sean and from what I've read the other Shawn who is the new GM of LIS is thinking along those lines. My concern is that it would be easy to lose more than we gain by trying to ride 2 horses at once.