Keeping Track
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Cattle are auctioned off at Emporia Livestock Sales on Friday, Jan. 26. The electronic ear tags, which are currently used on a voluntary basis, could greatly affect how a sale barn operates.
An electronic beef-tracking program is drawing both controversy and support in the cattle industry.
Although the program is not required yet, a compulsory tagging program is being considered by people in the industry.
Mike Jones, mill supervisor of Flint Hills Feed Lot, said a tag is attached to a calf’s ear. The tag has an ID number on it and a radio frequency chip that allows the animal to be tracked all the way to the processing plant.
“Basically they are a copper wire around a tag,” Jones said.
He said the controversy surrounding the tags is the ability to track the animals.
“A lot of the older guys that do cattle are thinking that it is a way the government is trying to control them,” Jones said. “The information from these units is not accessible to the government unless there is a major problem, and (then) only the files on that animal will be viewable by the government.”
Brody Peak, owner of Emporia Livestock Sales, says the electronic ear tags will put a great burden on the small to medium sized sale barns.
The information now goes to a private database.
“It has its pros and cons,” Jones said. “For me, I do produce cattle. It does make sense for some, but there is work in catching the calves and putting the information on the web site. For the feedlot, it would help keep track of the animals and the medication given to the animals.
It would be beneficial in many ways in the long run.”
According to microbeef.com, the Web site of a manufacturer of the tags, the goal of the National Animal Identification System is to have the capability through a federal, state, and industry partnership to identify within 48 hours after discovery all animals and premises that had direct contact with a foreign animal disease.
Steven Arndt of Emporia discusses how he feels about the electronic ear tagging.
Right now the program is voluntary and bugs are being worked out. Products are on the market.
Brody Peak, owner of Emporia Livestock Sales, said from a sale-barn standpoint, the ear tags will be very costly.
“It just costs too much,” Peak said.
To be able to read the ear tags, the sale barn will have to change its computer system and will have to hire extra people to scan the ear tags on the cattle. Peak said it also will take more time to scan in the cattle, making it even more costly for the sale barn. This cost will have to be passed on.
“A lot of the costs are going to end up getting back to the producers,” Peak said. “It’s going to cost them more money to sell cattle. We’re going to have to pass some of that cost on. We can’t just eat it all.”
Steven Arndt of Emporia, who runs about 400 cattle, said he doesn’t see the tags hurting his bottom line.
“It’ll be a good thing,” Arndt said. “We need to be able to track cattle.”
Arndt said he’s probably going to try the tags on this year’s calf crop and that producers may eventually end up getting a premium for those cattle that have the tags.
“I think we’ll end up getting paid more for those cattle,” he said. “As an individual I think it will be a good deal. It won’t be more than a $2 to $3 expense (for each head of cattle). One of the things we need to do is to be able to track viruses of any kind.”
Gary Redeker, of Hartford, runs about 250 cows and yearlings. Redeker said he isn’t sure what the effects of the ID system will be.
“My personal opinion is, I have quite a few cows and if it’s every one of them, the expense isn’t what I want it to be,” he said.
Redeker said the tags could cause more stress on cattle.
“Every time you put cattle in the chute to put something in their ear or body, it stresses them more,” he said.
A lot of details have to be worked out before he fully makes up his mind, Redecker said.
“It’s just not been proved yet,” he said. “I’m still on the fence. I can see where it can have its pros and cons.”
Loren Wagaman, of Wagaman Farms, runs about 300 head of cattle. Wagaman said the system is fine with him — as long as it works.
“It ain’t going to cost that much more,” Wagaman said. “I think it’s all right. It’ll be down the road.”
Comments
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
MelissaE (anonymous) says...
Here's my question: Can I tell, from a tag in a cow's ear, if the cow was raised organically or not? Hormones and antibiotics are a HUGE concern and I will not buy cattle if they aren't organic.....anyone know?
January 31, 2007 at 11:48 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )