Age verification

[grassfarmer]

In response to WD40s comment that "the only reason to Age Verify calves is for export to Asia - are we doing that? I don't think so. Its another "Red Herring" I'd like to offer a different angle.

I think the initial reason for the CCIA database and age verification was to ensure customers knew the origin and age of cattle in a post BSE era. Given that we need to export a substantial tonnage of beef outside our borders I think a tracking system is essential - it's a cost of doing business that comes with BSE unfortunately. This despite the statistically insignificant risk associated with eating our beef - perception is everything.
I think the CCIA system has the potential to so so much more for us. The one smart thing we have done is adopt EIDs, unlike Europe that adopted a barcode and paper trail system which is very cumbersome. I think we should expand the system to include a tracking (cattle movement) system so that every animal is trackable from birth to slaughter via the EID. Putting EIDs on calves and then having to track animal movements as we do now through written livestock manifests is crazy. I think this system has to be mandatory - time to get over perceived "can't be done attitudes". It can be it has been done elsewhere.
To make this work we need investment - tag readers at auctions, feedlots and some good computer programs etc. For this the processing industry must step up to the plate. They want to market beef that they can prove it's origin - they need to pay for it.
This may sound an outlandish plan to some readers that feel their role is to breed and sell calves but we have got to realise that we are all ultimately in the food business. I have a friend farming kiwi fruit in New Zealand and if I were to read the carton of kiwi fruit in a store here the code on it would trace right back to his farm. Beef is a little different but I think the principle remains the same - it is about traceability and consumer confidence.
I think we should bite the bullet on this and become world leaders and ahead of the pack. Claiming we are world leaders because we have a traceability system that 10% of our producers use, and at that only provides scant information, is a bogus claim in my opinion.

[rkaiser]

No problem with identification here as well. Would be just one more step in the whole Canadian COOL approach which I support wholeheartedly.

The part I like best about grassfarmers plan is where the packers pay for it. Forget the government cheque. ID the damn things and then sell the ID to the company that will benefit from it. And that does not mean "trickle" it down in the current free market ---LOL--- system. Simply sell the paper work after the cattle are moved. In the mean time - it belongs to the producer and a privacy agreement with the federal government to satisfy grassfarmers disease problems or BS like BSE.

This whole idea of having those who have made gugillions in the BSEconomic era with their strategic planning (which I once again applaud LOL) might just catch on. How about a partner plan with BIC and the partners they sell beef for. If they like the promotion and advertising idea, then it's time to kick in some dough. Lots of ways for this to happen with integrated partnership --LOL-- or maybe simply a commission back to BIC or CBEF (if they are still around) every time an order is filled.

Let's just say for a minute that Cargill doesn't want to kick in any more because they are already paying checkoff by being involved in cattle ownership. CRY ME and the new ABP a RIVER. Did anyone ever force Cargill to own cattle.

This packer ass kissing has got to stop if we are to ever make any headway in this industry. Yeah I know Oldtimer - you go Kaiser. I always said I would carry an Rcalf card if the Rcalf would carry a few more cards in their short deck.

[Willowcreek]

Atta Boy Kaiser-- keep giving them hell...LOL

Its just like I said with our US mandatory ID, the minute the buyers/Packers start paying me more for USDA's little RFID eartags, and makes it worth my time and expense-- I'll jump on it...
As of now the local buyers have preferred hot iron brands, and signed affidavits of birth period/origin/etc...

In Canada the packers already back doored you and got ID made mandatory- so they don't have to pay anything for that-- but I'd make them have to pay premiums/top price for birthdate info...

[grassfarmer]

That's brave talk willowcreek, how you "make them pay" for the information remains to be worked out. If we place a value of say $20 per head on the age verification/birth info/ tracking history I don't see why the retailer and the packer shouldn't pay $10 each - not much off a what $2000 carcase at retail level? But how?.... how do we do that so that the price of fat cattle is not simply discounted $20 on day one?
Any ideas??

[Willowcreek]

Premium- discount-whatever- I just do what they give the most money for....

Thing is if its just government mandated for everybody-- you have no chance to get any premium - or any more than any of the other cattle that sell-- unless the government "subsidizes" it.....

Just like top prices are paid by some feeders for preconditioned cattle- if the government required all to do it, they'd pay no more to get those that are..
And for some the labor/vaccine isn't worth the cost/effort of the fall shots....

I get the impression that Canadians are so stuck in the "generic beef business" trend that they don't want to do anything outside the box-- unless they can get the government to pay them..

[rkaiser]

If you could drop the last poke of your post Oldtimer, we could work this out a little easier.

Yes legislation is the only way to get this done, however our ABP/CCA and your good old NCBA would have to get the trickle down BS out of their heads first. It ain't tricklin. Therefor - for this cattle industry of ours to survive on even terms with the beef industry controlled by the packers, legislation needs to be implemented.

How easy was it for the government to decide that the producer should pay for the mandatory ID tag in cattle. Should be just as easy to say that the packer and/or retailer (no disagreement there grassfarmer) pay for the age verification. And pay that money directly to the producer for his private information, legal document.

[Willowcreek]

Yeah-- kaiser that poke was unnecessary-- but I just wouldn't want to spoil my image......LOL
Every time I hear Canadians argue against M-COOL and for the "generic beef" FRAUD it just upsets me....

I had a chance today to work with one of the State brand inspectors that did the traceback on the Yellowstone area brucellosis cattle-- and he told me that the head USDA guy in here working that case had to admit that they would not have been able to do as good a job or as fast with the proposed NAIS program as the Montana Dept. of Livestock did with the brands in tracking down all the cattle that had been in or out of those herds...

[perfecho]

$2000.00 retail? We do better than that on farm gate sales…admittedly not many……at one time a butcher at Safeway’s had mentioned $5000.00 retail when said and done. Has any one priced out a whole beef at such a retail store? I have always meant to, but never got around to it.

[perfecho]

Just this evening we had urbanites in for supper…..and I have brought this up before, but, well to do consumers would like to know where there food has come from…would prefer that it came from “Joe’s family farm” and not from Cargill 75000 head yard. And this more so than age verification! There can be a real market out there, if we wanted it. I still like the idea of purchasing something like Ranchers Choice, but instead of going head to head on the “same”, offer Albertans a truly western beef, farm family ethically raised, with dignity and pride! Label it as such, start here, and welcome McCool, because it would sell.
In a post I did during the BSE crisis, (although we are now in a BS crisis), I felt that if we got rid of half our cows, finished our own calves, left out hormones, raised them in an ethically humane environment and labeled them as such, I felt we would capture more of the market and be able to receive a premium. I still think this would be the case, even more so than age verification, although this ID could and should be part of the program.
Offer people what they want, and it si no longer from mass production. Like one comment tonight, “ A recall of beef from Safeway scares us, we want to know where our beef comes from!”
I believe we are missing the mark, missing the control and missing the $ that are there.
Have a good one!

[greybeard]

History shows that when a low cost production region gains access to a higher priced market the beef industry will prosper. When the railways came west they provided access to eastern and British markets. We again had rapid expansion with NAFTA. Access to higher priced markets is good for lower cost producers.
What concerns me about mandatory ID is not only that it adds cost to all animals, regardless of their ultimate destination, but that it adds to the ever increasing barriers to entry for small processor and marketers. When you add layers of regulations and responsibility you will see the smaller family run businesses being bought out or just closing up.
An example is the retail gasoline business. Between the flurry of regulations and required capital investment to meet them, and predatory pricing by the few suppliers, many outlets have disappeared. Control on pricing moved to a very few...
Multinationals thrive on increased regulation and barriers to entry. They actively lobby for them. Be careful what you ask for, you might get it.