The results of a small-scale RFID demonstration on a chunk of federally-managed community pasture speak volumes about the issues surrounding mandatory traceability.
Held in late September, the demonstration involved four heifers that, at the behest of a horse riding handler and his border collie, left their pen and entered an alleyway. Once the pecking order sorted itself out, the heifers proceeded through the alleyway and passed by a set of panel readers. Only three of the four animal’s RFID ear tags registered on the panel readers.
The reason for the miss was not immediately clear to observers on hand for the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) demonstration, held on the Excel community pasture about an hour south of Moose Jaw. As it turned out, the results were not entirely unexpected either.
The results of the brief demonstration are consistent with the preliminary findings of panel reader take-in experiments conducted by the AAFC Community Pasture Traceability project.
The project examined the feasibility of full traceability of livestock on federally-managed community pastures. The pilot project put the current infrastructure and equipment (wand readers, panel readers, and bar code tags) to the test in an environment where there is typically no cell phone coverage and little access to electricity.
“We didn’t expect a 100 per cent read rate. That’s not why we did it. We knew that there were some considerations that had to be explored,” said Susie Miller, director general for the market and industry services branch, AAFC.
Four community pastures are involved in the project, with approximately 650 head per pasture. All told, AAFC operates 85 community pastures in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
“The reason we looked at community pastures is because eventually down the road this is going to be one of the areas that would be included in a full traceability system,” she said.
Challenges encountered during the project include limited wand reader range, cattle flow past wand reader technicians, technician safety, weather, and a decrease in read percentage when calves moved through the system three-abreast. As well, exposed batteries for panel readers presented safety and battery longevity issues.
A final report, expected by the new year, will describe the full results of the project and include recommendations on the feasibility of implementing full traceability standards at AAFC community pastures. The project results will assist the industry in the adoption of best practices to meet traceability standards, AAFC said.
In other traceability News, the Alberta government and the province’s beef cattle industry recently agreed to the guiding principles for beef cattle traceability. The principles establish an acceptable common understanding of traceability between government and industry and serve as a foundation for a national beef traceability system.
The fourth principle recognizes that the beef cattle tagging system underpinning traceability “will not, under existing technology, achieve a rate of 100 percent tag retention or 100 percent readability.”
Establishing and accepting tolerance ranges and a practical enforcement policy will help industry and government implement a successful beef cattle traceability system, the principle states.
The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association remains committed to improving and enhancing Canada’s traceability system. Its view is that deadlines and methods must be considered carefully to ensure that members do not simply add another regulatory cost that will leave producers less competitive.
