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Today’s electronic identification devices, coupled with advanced telecommunications, networking and database-management systems, enable traceability for beef cattle, along with a wide variety of management applications. The RFID tag USDA has stated an intention to keep the NAIS “technology neutral,” meaning different types of devices and systems can fit, as long as they meet specified technical standards. But for now, at least, the beef-cattle portion of the USAIP is built around the radio-frequency identification tag. These familiar “button” tags contain a passive radio transponder that emits a coded signal when they receive an electronic signal from an RFID reader. Standards recommended by the USAIP, and adopted in the NAIS, call for official RFID tags in compliance with ISO 11784 code structure and readers compliant with ISO 11785. The International Standards Organization ratings essentially mean that various tags and readers will work with other ISO-compliant devices, here and internationally. Tags will be encoded with a 15-digit number, with the first three representing the U.S. country code (840), and the next 12 being the Animal Identification Number. The plan allows tags to contain two types of transponders known as half-duplex and full-duplex, so readers must work with both. RFID tags and readers are not without their problems—tags can fall out and readers typically need to be within a foot or less to pick up a signal. Planners, however, believe RFID technology will provide the accuracy and automation needed for efficient traceability. Beyond the ear tag The current plan specifies RFID ear tags, but other forms of official identification could be included later. The Australian National Identification System, for example, uses a weighted RFID bolus in addition to RFID ear tags. The bolus resides in the animal’s rumen, helping assure a high retention rate. Another option is a tiny RFID implant, which can be injected under the skin. Companies such as Digital Angel Corp. produce RFID implants that offer the added benefit of monitoring the animal’s body temperature. Boluses also are available with this feature, which can help managers identify and treat cattle up to 48 hours before they show visible signs of respiratory disease. Using another approach, GrowSafe Systems Ltd. has developed RFID systems that monitor individual animals in a pen, detecting behavioral changes that can identify sickness more than four days in advance of visual assessment. This system incorporates a new kind of antenna that can read multiple RFID transponders at once, says GrowSafe Vice President Alison Sunstrum. Several of these readers, strategically located around a feedyard pen and linked to a computer, can simultaneously monitor every animal in the pen. The system can record and analyze behavioral information, such as how often and for how long an animal visits the feedbunk or water trough, and alert managers to changes that could indicate sickness. A number of major universities and research institutions across the United States and Canada currently use the GrowSafe system to monitor individual feed intake, weight gain and other factors in projects intended to improve ration formulations and genetic selection for better feed conversion. Some large commercial feedyards use the technology to fine-tune animal-health, bunk-management and marketing programs. RFID technology must consistently collect accurate data, Ms. Sunstrum says, but it also must go beyond tags and readers to include an IT infrastructure that adds value. Biometrics Looking beyond RFID, biometric technology such as retinal imaging and DNA sampling can provide positive identification of animals, usually in combination with visual or electronic tags. Optibrand, for example, has developed retinal imaging, using the unique pattern of blood vessels in an animal’s retina, for a tamper- and fraud-proof method of permanent identification. Using this technology, a producer could scan a calf’s eye at birth and enter the image into a database. From that point on, the retinal image is similar to a barcode. Future scans of the animal’s eye can identify the animal and record transactions or other movement. Optibrand scanners also link to the Global Positioning System, to record the time, date and location at which a scan takes place. In addition to retinal imaging, Optibrand designed the system to securely capture individual-animal data from any source, including visual or electronic tags. Speaking of multi-tasking, DNA sampling can facilitate traceability while offering a broad range of management applications. Several companies offer DNA-testing services to identify genetic markers linked to commercially valuable traits such as beef tenderness and marbling, or to positively trace calves to their sires. DNA sampling also offers the potential for linking retail beef products back to individual animals for food-safety and beef-quality purposes. Data decisions One of the key, unanswered questions dogging the development of the NAIS involves management and control of the data. One option is for USDA to develop a central database for all of the traceability information required in the NAIS. Other options include private-industry management of a central database or several smaller, linked data sets, with animal-health officials having access to information needed for disease surveillance and containment. Several companies and organizations have positioned themselves to play a role in managing data for the national system. What that role might be remains unclear, but compatibility will be critical for seamless tracking of cattle around the country. As RFID-tagged cattle move through the production system, readers linked to computers can collect and catalog information on each animal. Some basic information, such as dates and locations where animals change owners or commingle, meets the needs of the NAIS. Other information, such as performance data or carcass characteristics, has management applications for adding value across production stages. Glenn Smith, USA country manager for AgInfoLink, says the opportunity to improve management and add value at every production stage provides market-driven incentives for animal identification and justifies keeping the effort in the private sector. AgInfoLink is one of five companies forming the Beef Information Exchange. The others are APEIS, eMerge Interactive Inc., IMI Global Inc. and Micro Beef Technologies Ltd. These companies aggressively compete with each other to sell management-oriented products and services, Mr. Smith says. They have come together to provide a standardized system to provide government with information needed to protect animal health, while offering producers a choice of providers for value-added information. At this summer’s ID Info Expo in Chicago, AgInfoLink demonstrated a Track-Trace program that illustrates how such a system could work. The database combines premises ID and individual-animal ID to allow tracking from premises to premises. Individual RFID tags are scanned each time animals move to a new premises, and owners enter the premises and individual numbers into the system. When officials need to track an animal, the program generates a map showing each premises the animal has visited over the course of its life. It also draws lines on roadways showing the likely routes the animal traveled between each premises. The tracking doesn’t stop there, Mr. Smith explains, because containment of contagious diseases requires cohort data—information on cattle with which an infected animal might have had contact. Toward that goal, the map locates and identifies premises along the animal’s route of travel that might have been exposed, such as ranches along the road or even truck stops. Then the system identifies cohorts, or individual animals that were present at any potentially exposed location, and tracks them forward to their present locations. The system can, if needed, track the cohorts of cohorts to contain the outbreak of an infectious disease. For more information on companies offering products and services related to animal identification and traceability, see the directory of service providers. |
Just a few years
ago, a national system to trace cattle back and forward in 48 hours would
have been an impossible dream. The technology simply wasn’t available. RFID
devices have been around since the 1980s, but the computing power to manage
data on such a large and complex scale is a more recent development. Content provided by Food Systems Group, a division of Vance Publishing
Corp.,
publishers of Drovers, Dairy Herd
Management and Bovine Veterinarian.