Reference Library

"CATTLE IDENTIFICATION OF THE FUTURE"
The Vet's Bag

by Stuart J. Burns, D.VM.

The very first thing necessary to manage a herd of cattle is to identify the individual animals. Texas Longhorn breeders have an easier task here than do breeders of other cattle because no two Texas Longhorns are alike, coupled with the registration requirement that each animal have a holding brand and a private herd brand.

However, the future holds some new technology soon to be on line that I would like to describe to you. But first, let me paint you a picture of the future.

The dust hangs heavy in the early morning light over the working pens on a northern New Mexico ranch in October 2002. The air is filled with a mix of sounds including bawling calves, the soft whistling of the cowboys as they crowd the pairs into the pen and the musical ring of their jingle-bobs as a stock horse spins quickly to block an escapee. All this against the background of a muffled roar from the propane burner as the irons are heating to brand the calf crop. The men started early that morning to work the cattle, partly because of the morning cool, but also because the boss had heard that the Federalies had been reported in the area. The thought was to start and finish early before the patrol got out of bed, and avoid trouble.

Alas, it is not to be. Five calves stand in the shipping pen and the sixth is on the ground when the branding crew hears the whump-whump-whump of the helicopter coming over the ridge. As it circles to land, the herd hits the fence and goes through it, injuring two cows and a calf. A tall pony-tailed college type and his sidekick disembark from the now landed chopper and approach the cowboy; one armed with a clip board, the other with a fast cooling branding iron. "You, there, is it your intent to apply that hyperthermic instrument to the integument of that hapless bovine, thereby inducing a thermal injury to its epidermis with resulting tissue destruction and psychological trauma?" (Which means, "Are you fixin 'to brand that calf?"). The cowboy stands mute and defenseless as the citation is written up. You see, the ranch has some BLM land on lease which gives the government the authority to come on the place as it pleases. The morning's activities are a clear violation of the Federal Animal Welfare Act signed by the President in 200 1! Such is progress.

The cowboy in this story would have been well advised to use electronic identification to mark the cattle. This technology has been available since the late 1980's and is sometimes used to identify pets and horses. The animal is injected under the skin with a large bore needle through which is passed a small microchip encased in silicon. Each chip contains its own number, different from all others. Once in place, the silicon coating prevents any tissue irritation or reaction. The chip will stay in the tissue for the rest of the animal's life.

No larger than the head of a match, it is almost impossible to find so it cannot be removed or substituted. The
animal can be identified when a hand held scanner is aimed at the animal and the radio waves from the scanner "illuminate" the number on the chip which then appears on the viewer of the scanner. These passive chips can currently be read at a range of 3 to 10 inches, but as the technology is developed it may improve to allow identification from yards away. A cowboy might sit in his pickup and identify any or all of a group. Once the ID number is recorded, it can be fed into a computer which then might be able to provide all previous owners of the cow, registration numbers,
health records, etc.

This system will prove very useful in many areas. It can make livestock theft an act of history. It will allow prompt correct identification of cows for Al. It can provide a trace back to the farm of origin quickly in order to locate sources of disease or illegal antibiotic use in cattle going to the rail. It will also make possible the 'value based' marketing of cattle where the calf producer can be paid a premium for presenting a superior calf for feeding. This is the opportunity we have long awaited to demonstrate the carcass quality of Texas Longhorn crossbred calves.

Many of the problems in using this technology have just about been solved. The USDA only recently approved the use of microchips in cattle. Until recently they were considered an unsafe food additive and it was feared that one might show up on your hamburger at McDonalds. There will no doubt be some restrictions on where the chip can be injected in the animal. Approved locations currently include the ear or hock.

The Organization of International Standards has developed two electronic identification standards. ISO 11784 describes the universal code in the transponder (hand held scanner) that can be split into a number of codes while ISO 11785 deals with the technical properties of radio frequency assigned for this use. It further specifies how the transponder is activated and how the information stored is transferred to the transponder. When these regulations are accepted and utilized by the several companies that produce electronic ID systems, the goal could be that any scanner could read any chip implanted in an animal, regardless of who manufactured and sold it.

Electronic identification should prove to be fast, (just one injection), and tamper proof (you can't find it to remove it), and very easy to use. It may require purebred registries to write some rules regarding its use but it looks like it's coming, ready or not!

If you have questions you would like to have Dr Burns answer, please let us know at the Trails office or write him at P0. Box 41, Paris, KY 40362.