RFID tags

[grassfarmer]

I was at a cattle seminar today and a number of people mentioned that for the calf ser aside scheme you have to tag the calves in a specific ear - I can't remember which they said. Does anyone know about this I don't see it in the Alberta scheme rules but maybe I missed it? They were also saying how this would relate to the feedlot practice of putting their management tags in a certain ear(again I can't remember which ear). I though the whole benefit of RFID s was the wealth of information you could record on them - if I tag some small calves and sell them to a feedlot are they really going to put yet another tag on them? - soon we will need cattle with extra ears to hold all the tags!

[cowman]

Well on the Allflex package they show you where to place the tag and it is the left ear. Which is pretty common practice for most cattle anyway?
Maybe the need for more and bigger ears for all the tags is the reason the cattle buyers like to discount the hell out of a frozen eared calf? LOL! Guess we'd better start breeding in some more Simmental!

[kato]

How about this?

I just got off the phone with the CCIA. I called to see what we are supposed to do when we put a set-aside tag in a calf that already has a bar code tag. Around here, most calves get their barcodes at birth.

Well, this is going to be fun. I was told that we are supposed to write both numbers down, so they can be cross referenced.

You have to take this list back to the place you bought the tags, and they are supposed to upload the information to the database.

The most interesting thing about this is that when the tags are sold, they are supposed to be submitted to the CCIA within 24 hours. I guess I'll have to call them back again.

Have any of you who have already tagged your calves done this? Or did you just cut the old tag out? If so, the number is supposed to be retired in the system, which is just as much work. You may want to have a talk with your tag supplier.

Oh yea, Manitoba should hopefully have some tags next week. For some reason we are to have red buttons on ours, and of course that's a colour that the company doesn't normally have, so they had to manufacture it. Surprise surprise.....

[pandiana]

kato, we have tagged our 'set-aside' calves in the left ear per instructions. Two of our show calves already had bar code tags (in their left ear) which we removed, as per instructions on AB Ag web site.

As the bar code tag did not reference a specific calf, we felt no need to record this number. Could be in trouble, don't know. I am sure they will work things out eventually (?). It has been our policy up 'till now that we tag only when required by CCIA, not while on the farm as they loss has been significant. Interesting to see how long the RFID tags stay put.

As you have to buy packages of 20, you could end up with a few spares. I would think this would allow some wiggle room if you changed you minds as you don't have to report the calf ID, just the RFID.

I was pleased that the price came in at around $3.00 per tag. This was about what we heard the regular RFID tags would come it at from Mabel Hamilton.

At a seminar today, with speaker Ted Haney, he reiterated the importance of birth dates being recorded as opposed to dentition in our upcoming trade negotiations with Asia. He said that calves that have this information would be "more valuable" than calves without because they would have more opportunity to be sold into alternate markets.

[grassfarmer]

Kato I haven't bothered to read the info on this cross referencing you talk of but what is the point? My calves were bar code tagged at birth with CCIA tags and now some are getting the electronics as well. As the CCIA system only identifies the farm to which the tag was sold there shouldn't be a need to cross reference should there? After all both of my tags will show that they were tagged on my holding. Bought in calves off a different farm would be another story. I thought it was illegal to remove a CCIA tag Pandiana?

[kato]

I was speaking directly to the CFIA when I got the info. I guess their idea is that if both numbers are cross referenced, then they don't go under the assumption that there are two calves. We tag all our calves with barcodes when they are born, and record the barcode numbers in our calving book as part of our normal record keeping.

So the Alberta gov. is telling you to cut out the old tag? I wonder if they have spoken to each other? Now I'm not sure what to think.

Just another example of the confusion that seems such a normal part of pretty much all the government schemes this year.

As for the extra tags in the packages, I have been told the tags we are getting here are going to come with two buttons, one for in the program, and one for out of the program.

I'll keep digging into this one.

[kato]

Don't dig to deep Kato. I ain't got a nife sherp enuf to cut out any dern tags. If they want em out, I gees thel have to come an cut em out thimselves.

In otherwords, I plan to use the uninformed farmer excuse should anyone ask.

My tags are in the left ear right above their bar coded tags, and that's where there staying.

[rusty1]

Tim Kane of Kane Vet Supplies was on the Radio on Sat last quoting $2.29 per RFID tag. So don't pay too much.

[kato]

rpkaiser, don't worry about the knife. We're not supposed to cut out the old tags.

Checkout the Q&A on Ropin the web. It does say that the CCIA 'requests' they be cross referenced. I was thinking about it, though and if you were audited, and one had lost it's RFID tag, that cross referencing could save you from having to send them back their $200.00

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/rsv9120/$FILE/PRD4_ACSAP_QA.pdf

[grassfarmer]

Spoke "unofficialy" to a person with CCIA who is mad that the Government didn't consult with them before designing this scheme. It is illegal to cut out tags but "unofficially" if you do it on farm of origin and replace with a scheme RFID you shouldn't run into problems. The Government has been warned by CCIA that there is potential for tags to be cut out under this scheme and also potentially once the calves have been traded and are in a feedlot. The idea that the tag has to be put in a particular ear is just a suggestion and is no big deal. The form I will be submitting registering my calves for the set aside program was printed off Alberta Ag website a few weeks back and unlike the new ones doesn't have the column indicating whether they were previously tagged with a CCIA tag - hopefully this could sidestep the issue?
What a stupid scheme - all this hassle and paperwork to give out some money on replacement heifers and small calves that would not have been fat before October 1st next year anyway.

[cowman]

Grassfarmer: You sure hit the nail on the head with that last sentence"replacement heifers and small calves"! The ones we all keep anyway, right?
Our politicians aren't exactly the sharpest knives in the drawer!

[dalek]

Interesting. Hopefully we'll soon get some news on how the calf set-aside is going to work in Ontario. Not a peep yet.