Beef Cattle ID Technology Aids Producers, Consumers
Shannon Grover, St. Francis rancher, sees many advantages to using an electronic animal identification system.
St. Francis, Kan., cattleman Shannon Grover has done the math, and he likes what he sees.
Grover operates the beef verification center in Cheyenne County. He said he is finding that the ability to track information on slaughtered cattle is bringing an average $10 premium from packers if producers sell through a source verification program.
And the cost for the tags? About four bucks.
"Everyone’s getting a premium if they use this system," Grover said.
K-State Research and Extension and Kansas Farm Bureau are working together on animal identification technology. KFB’s Beef Verification Solution program started in 2004 and has placed 26 beef verification centers around the state.
"I can track my cattle from the cows to the calves to the slaughter house," Grover said. Over the years, as I build up an information base, I know what cows are doing what, what the trend is, and what cow doesn’t have good calves."
The program involves e-mail messages in which the producer sends initial information and then receives carcass data after the animals have been
slaughtered.
"In the long run, this technology will assist in providing protection in the area of herd health by facilitating the traceability of foreign animal diseases and routine health surveillance by federal and state animal health officials," said K-State Research and Extension beef specialist Dale Blasi. "In the short term, this technology will likely be required by beef processors for those producers who wish to participate in market programs targeted for export."
"We’re going to get a lot of good
out of the beef verification program," Grover said. "We’ll be able to manage our cow herd with the information from the carcass data after they’ve been slaughtered."
According to Grover, even if producers don’t sell cattle on the source verified program, they will still get $1 premium from most packing plants just from having a radio frequency identification tag (RFID), which is the tag used in the program.
"All the producers have to do is put the tag in and send the sheet to me," Grover said. "Even the guys who don’t have the software and electronic scanners can still reap the benefits."
The system meets the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s requirements for the National Animal Identification System, which calls for mandatory animal identification by Jan. 1, 2008.
Blasi said K-State Research and Extension has worked to help producers understand such benefits as cost analysis and its application into existing record- keeping systems.
"Since the packers are calling for it, the producers are going to use it," Grover said.
"Once we all start using it, it’s going to become really handy.
"The best part," he added, "is that we’re going to be able to make management decisions using the program’s data."
Dale Blasi
785-532-5427
dblasi@k-state.edu
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