NAIS

[norriscathy]

I started to order some tags to get "ahead of the curve". The tags are in NO LOGICIAL sequence!! You don't order tag # xxxxxxxx101 to xxxxxxxx299. Just a complete random sequence sent to you however they come! You may have xxxxxxxx101 and someone across the country will have xxxxxxxxx102. NO sequence of numbers. Somehow you're going to have to match up your herd tag numbers with these random numbers. Typical government BS. Don't know why they couldn't have allowed the last 4 or 5 digits to used by the individual rancher? That would have actually made sense!!! Could have eliminated tattoing AND a second set of ear tags!

If the last digits were individualized for a producer the cost of the tags would be rediculous. If you cross the tag# with your id for the animal it's a pretty simple deal. Most of our calves get the RFI tags when they're sold to the feedlots and the numbers are reported back to us. The feedlot also keeps a record of what farm id goes with which RFI tag.

dun

Why couldn't they at least sell the tags in some numerical sequence instead of totally random numbers? Would then at least be useful to the producer.

 

[aztumbleweed]

I have to somewhat disagree with you mister Dun. True the brand is an indication of ownership of the animal,and the brand. Any inspector in Az. can look in his brand book and tell you where the animal came from by the brand on it. I can not vouch for other brand states but it is pretty easy to trace back here. Now if in this NAIS they want to know which cow a calf came from I can probably tell them 90% of the time if they want to know which of 30 bulls is the sire then they are hosed.I don't believe it should be mandatory but market driven the government allready has it's nose in enough of my business.

 

[dun]

I have to somewhat disagree with you mister Dun. True the brand is an indication of ownership of the animal,and the brand. Any inspector in Az. can look in his brand book and tell you where the animal came from by the brand on it. I can not vouch for other brand states but it is pretty easy to trace back here. Now if in this NAIS they want to know which cow a calf came from I can probably tell them 90% of the time if they want to know which of 30 bulls is the sire then they are hosed.I don't believe it should be mandatory but market driven the government allready has it's nose in enough of my business.

Two different locations withthe same ownership can have the same brand. We did that many years ago. All that told was ownership, not which of the places the calf came from. The whole idea is to have a verifiable paper (electronic) trail so that an animal can be traced to s specific location along with others that were also at that specific location.
Range type places tend to use brands where pasture oriented places don;t bother.

dun

 

[SPRINGER FARMS MURRAY GRE]

Anyone belong to the NCBA? I joined through the Arkansas Cattlemans Association. Reason I mention this is that they sent me a bunch of ear tags with what looked like barcodes on them.I have not gotten them out and really looked at them yet,was just wondering if anyone else had gotten any of them.I think they can be read buy a scanner from a distance. :shock:

 

[Farmhand]

I'm an ICA and NCBA member. Our county cattlemen just got through tagging 4-H cattle for fair with those electronic identification (EID) tags. Went real well. The scanner we used did not allow much distance. But we used the cheapest one. There are suppose to be much fancier ones but I don't know anything about them. The EID tags went in just like a normal eartag. They are recommending you put them closer to the head though to try to help prevent lost tags. That barcode is the number on the EID tag. We recorded the eartag number, birthdate, color of animal, sex of animal, and owner. They are using us as a test for how well all this works. One thing we thought needed improvement was a way to combine the eartag and the EID tag. As it is now, the EID goes in the left ear and the eartag in the right ear. Even though it isn't difficult, it is another step to be done. Combining them would keep it at one step. The trouble is, it is still applied to the animal like an eartag and so we are assuming it will be just as easily lost as an eartag. We are thinking lost EID tags could be prevented if they could come up with something that could be implanted into the ear. But then you are back to having another step. One for eartagging and another for implanting the EID.