Static Tools To Track Dynamic Assets

[Happytrails]

Hey gang, I was surfing another chatroom and came upon a discussion about a virtual fence system. The promoter was claiming that dynamic property (cattle) should be contained by dynamic means (virtual fence).

I don't know about that but the slogan caught my attention. The traceability plan that we are expected to swallow for the good of the industry is just that. Cattle are famously dynamic and we are attempting to pinpoint each of them from a computer?? I have seen a bovine travel 15 miles in 6 hours. We can scan tags till we are blue in the face and still we won't have a current location of our cattle. The best (only for most cattle) tracking we have in Alberta and Sask is by brand inspection. They count the cattle way better than scanners and also are very efficient differentiating bovines from equines. My food for thought tonight.

PS Hope the cupid's aim is good. lol

[grassfarmer]

This from the guy that was going to buy a system to
follow his cattle on google earth last week, lol.
I think your branding system is a joke when fewer and
fewer use it and many cows carry multiple brands.
When I sell branded cull cows that I've bought at a
dispersal years before I have to supply the auction
with the purchase slip showing the brand. Problem is
many of the dispersal cows we have bought don't
carry a brand listed on the sales slip so I guess the
brand inspection system isn't all that accurate. I
always provide the correct sales slip when I sell these
cull cows because I know where they came from even
if the brands don't match anything on the sales slip
and I always get paid. I guess this must be common
place as it never raises an eyebrow at the auction.
No system at all if you are serious about tracing an
animals movements.

[Happytrails]

My branding system??? I think the ancient Egyptians should get more credit.

Consider this. If there was no brand inspection what would you think? I know it isn't fool proof but would we trade it for ID tag scanning? No Thanks.

[grassfarmer]

Yep, credit where credit is due - "branding - a
technology from the age of the pyramids."
How about we have choice on this seeing you don't
like mandatory rules? You continue to pay for useless
brand inspection and I withdraw from the system?
Why should I pay $1 "checkoff" every time I send an
animal to auction when I've never branded an animal
in my life? Think how many million dollars must be
removed from producers bottom lines "brand
inspecting" cattle that have no brands.

[Kathy]

Advertising you don't brand has potential
drawbacks, called cattle rustling. Last year a
friend lost a couple dozen calves, he didn't brand
and somebody new this and waited for nice big
calves in the fall. We will continue to brand
(electric iron as it is more consistent heat) when
our cows get in with the neighbours or vise versa,
it is much easier to tell and remedy.

[grassfarmer]

I'll take my chances with thieves - afterall we've been
dealing with the likes of Cargill and Nilssons for years
and survived thus far!
Didn't the court case resulting from the Bonnett
feedlot receivership in fact dismiss use of brands as
proof of ownership?

[ALLFARMER]

A few years back when I sold my 154 bred cows
had a huge nightmare sorting out all the brands.
Lots of cows had more brands than were shown
on my purchase bills. I was told I am supposed to
check for brands on the new cattle that are not
listed on the purchase bills. I think I had
something like 60 some "hold backs" they went
thru every auction house I ever bought or sold
cattle thru. Literally cattle from Provost to Drayton
Valley to Grande Prairie and everywhere
inbetween. Most of the problem was because I
never branded any cattle on this farm ever.
Basically if I had been branding my cattle I would
have no problems I was told. I asked if I steal my
neighbors cattle and brand them are they mine
???? Yes was the answer. Anyway thanks to
google I found the last 3 guys to sign off on the
brand releases. One guy hadn't had cattle since
BSE and he said those were old cows then lol!!
He was very surprised his old cows were still
producing calves. I ended up phoning the
Farmers Advocate office just to make sure LIS
and the Mart know I wasn't going away quietly. In
my view if I signed the Manifest they are my cattle
unless proven otherwise!

[BFW]

Brand inspection has little or no value to the cattle industry. I can see a need to brand at the ranch level where cattle can be easily mixed with a neighbors etc. but if those people did not have the system subsidized by inspections at packing plants and had to pay the true cost of an inspection they would look for a better way very quickly.

[Happytrails]

AF says "if I signed the Manifest they are my cattle unless proven otherwise". Exactly. That is why we need livestock inspectors to check that the documentation matches the cattle. I will grant that trader cattle bastardize the system. The guys that play in that pool had best be branding or suffer the inconvenience. IMHO that is a small problem compared to the free for all that would ensue if brand inspection was ended.

BFW you admit that brands have a place in livestock ID out in the country but not at the packing plants. I see by the LIS website that a majority of livestock inspections and thus LIS revenues are from the plants. I don't have an informed opinion of the value we are getting for livestock inspections at packing plants. But I am willing to bet that the LI's do keep the horses out and probably do some other usefull work.

I read in Alberta Beef of the benefits of UHF ID tags. Who knows, they might be a good tool for some tasks. The fact remains that they are still just an ear tag that can be easily removed. To me that means they cannot be relied upon to establish ownership. If we can afford to both read brands and scan tags there is not a problem. Maybe there is a way to do one or the other depending on where the cattle are in the production cycle.

[ALLFARMER]

If your selling a tractor or combine or what ever
when you sign the consignment sheet your stating
it's yours. For the most part the auction company
is done at this point.