Status Report - June 1998
The states of California, New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin
remain the geographic areas for conducting the project in the
first year. A "phased- in" approach is being planned,
starting in New York and Pennsylvania, followed by Wisconsin
and then California. This will provide some experience in
setting up the systems and will serve to avoid duplication of
the same conflicts/problems in other areas.
Dairy Producer Herd Owner Lead Teams are being established
in each state to coordinate the enrollment process of the herds.
Enrollment of herds is currently being initiated in New York
and Pennsylvania (late spring and early summer). Recent meetings
in Wisconsin have been successful in finalizing the geographic
location of herds, and enrollment of herds is slated to start
within the next few weeks. Additional meetings and contacts
in California will help determine more details as herd enrollments
in the Tulare County area are initiated.
Identification Methods
Electronic ID
The Identification Methods Working Group met in late March
to evaluate the electronic identification capabilities of radio
frequency identification (RFID) devices of five manufacturers.
Implants, tag attachments, and bolus transponders were all considered.
ISO compliant devices was a requirement for considering a manufacturer's
equipment. This is imperative to insure compatibility of equipment
among various manufacturers of RFID devices. That is, the integration
of devices that meet the ISO standards will insure that one reader
can read transponders provided by different manufacturers. A
report on ISO standards for RFID technology used in animal applications
is enclosed with this mailing.
The transponder ear tag attachment was determined the most
suitable to initiate the project. This was primarily based on
the need for some type of visible ID to reflect animals that
are identified with an electronic means and the fact that the
removal of ear tags at slaughter is already a common procedure.
The bolus transponder has advantages with regard to the prevention
of fraud and warrants consideration in the future. However, immediate
recovery or removal systems are not well defined and/or established.
The implant remains another option. However, assuring that
the transponder is eliminated from the food chain continues to
be an issue of concern.
The Allflex transponder tag attachment has been selected to
initiate the project. Another tag attachment from Nedap that
has been tested in Europe will be implemented in several herds
in Wisconsin and other selected areas.
Visible ID
Visible tags that are a "one-time use" (tamperproof)
tag, with an established track record, will be used in the program.
Allflex, who currently provides the majority of this type of
tags in the United States, will provide a number of the visible
tags. Destron-Fearing's single use tag may also be used in the
project when more of the administrative processes are established.
Markets
Empire Livestock Marketing in New York and Equity Cooperative
Livestock Sales Association in Wisconsin have agreed to participate
in the program. Markets in Dryden, NY, and Bonduel, WI, are
the test sites at this time. RFID readers will be set up to
test their capability to automatically identify cows that have
been identified with RFID transponders and that are marketed
through these facilities.
Packing Plants
Taylor Packing in Wyalusing, PA, and Packerland in Green Bay,
WI, will participate in the project. Moyers in Souderton, PA,
was visited on May 27 to review the project, and they are considering
being a test site. Dress Beef in Green Bay, WI, has also been
extended an invitation to participate in the project, but final
review of the project with the managers has not been completed.
Each plant will have an RFID reader installed to automatically
read the animal's transponder, which will then have that information
added to the animal's record on the data base. Another plant
will be considered in the Tulare, California, area.
A site inspection for the installation of RFID readers was
completed by Allfex at Taylor Packing on May 28. Plans are to
have the reader installed by the middle of August.
Dairy Management Systems Integrators
Surge has integrated ISO compliant RFID technology for parlor
ID in their new dairy installations built since January 1, 1998.
This provides the potential of merging RFID technology used in
the parlor and herd management systems for use beyond the farm
gate. Several herds in Wisconsin, and possibly other regions,
that have these Surge systems will identify calves with an RFID
eartag. The tag's retention and durability will be evaluated,
and its potential for integration into herd management systems
can be considered later in the project when such heifers freshen.
Using the same devices for herd management ID and automating
the collection of animal identifications at other production
points (markets and packing plants) certainly supports the concept
as a "national" system. The recent commitment of Surge,
one of the major
dairy equipment manufacturers, to support the F.A.I.R. is
very significant as we evaluate the capabilities to integrate
herd management ID capabilities with other production points.
Information System
The animal's identification record, which consists of basic
information (date of birth, breed, sire, dam, owner, etc.), will
constitute the data that is centralized on the F.A.I.R. data
base. Premise numbers provided by each state department of agriculture
for each farm will establish the animal's origin.
The initial phase of the project will be to develop a tracking
system for cull dairy cows. The premises information will be
added to the animals' records as they pass through the markets
as well as the packing plants. Live weight of the animal may
be obtained through a data communications system with the market.
One of the slaughter plants would like to develop a system providing
carcass grade and yield back to the dairy producer, and this
information is being considered part of the information system.
Consideration for integrating the project into quality assurance
programs is being pursued, which may determine other information
that the system can obtain.
Equity Cooperative Livestock in Wisconsin will have heifers
in the project that are from several herds enrolled in their
heifer contract raising program. In such cases heifers move
among one or more premises prior to freshening.
The Information Systems Working Group will continue to evaluate
and consider data elements that are deemed appropriate for the
project. As the project matures, data elements that participants
in the pilot see as necessary will be added to the system as
they are defined. |