With National Animal Identification and Tracing tagging scheme coming into existence in November, farmers need to get their heads around the practicalities of this system.
Some of the key issues are that if animals are not moving off farm they do not need to be tagged straight away. But AHB tags still need to be put in as well, but when the TB incidence gets lower this requirement could be removed.
Benefits will be only seen when a disease outbreak hits when quick isolation of the problem will be possible. After the second major earthquake, and PSA in kiwifruit, nobody should be saying it won't happen here !!!!
The farmer that trialed it saw major benefits on identifying poor producing animals early, and savings of drench by calculating exact weights to indivdual animals.
Farmers have eight months to get into gear for mandatory national electronic identification of cattle. About 20 farmers took the opportunity to learn more about the new National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) scheme that comes into effect on November 1 this year at a field day at Ruakituri this week. As well as information, they heard from Nga Tuhoe Station owner James Brownlie, who has been trialling tags and other equipment and can see the benefits of the technology as a management tool reports the Gisborne Herald.
All tags are co-related and any tag losses are noticed straight away after the animals have been through the scales. With every animal instantly recorded, with its identification and weight, it is all too easy to notice under-performing animals. Also there is a great saving by drenching to exact weight. Sorting by weight also improves management. NAIT stakeholder relations manager Dan Schofield said from November 1 newborn animals would have to be electronically tagged with a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) button by 180 days or their first off-farm movement, whichever comes first.
For capital stock, that will generally never go off-farm farmers have up to three years to tag. But as soon as any are shifted, even to another farm owned by the farmer, they have to be tagged. It is going to be costly for people with big herds but this way it can be spread out over the three years. The fact there is a requirement for a secondary Animal Health Board (AHB) tag irked some farmers at the meeting but over time the AHB would step back from their tracing role and only be responsible for TB eradication, Mr Schofield said.
The biggest resistance from farmers was cost, Mr Schofield said.“There will be no extra benefit for the extra cost until there is an outbreak. The Waiheke Island false alarm was 14 days and the movement would not be identified. With the new system we will have all the data within two to three days. That is where the gains will be. We can isolate and ring-fence the problem because we will know where they have been.”
The tags will cost between $2.70 and $3.50, depending on the type bought. There is a wide range of prices of tag readers but it is not necessary for farmers to have readers.“Some will never need them but some farmers will grab the opportunity to use it as a management tool,” Mr Schofield said.
A key to not losing the tags was the placement of them said Mr Schofield.“They should go in the right ear and much closer to the head than where the normal tags are placed.”Farmers had an obligation to tell NAIT about any dead cattle so they could be removed from the farmer’s file.
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