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Faunsdale, AL | I agree that RFID or other tags are not tamper proof ID. They are individual ID with no other animal in North America having the same ID. They also work with databases and computers.
Just to illustrate the point that they aren't tamper proof..............Sold a load of registered heifers to a dairy/heifer grower in Texas a few years ago. The buyer stipulated that the heifers had to have RFID tags recorded with their registration. We tattoo everything and do not normally use RFID tags even though they have been accepted and recommended as the sole form of ID for registrations by the cattle association. So, we got a series of RFID tags and tagged the heifers before we loaded them.
The dairy in Texas is on DHIA and records will be available to USDA for sire summary etc. The fieldman for the Jersey cattle association was involved in the sale/purchase and when he was at the Texas farm a month or two later, he looked for the heifers. Turns out the amigos who unloaded them ran each and every one through the chute and cut out the RFID tags we had put in before they left the farm in Alabama and replaced them with more RFID tags. As far as the RFID system is concerned, those heifers just disappeared without a trace!
The fieldman spent a half a day checking ears on several groups at the large heifer ranch to re-ID those registered heifers so their production and type data were not lost.
Alabama has no brand inspection law. They do register brands and many beef operations use them in addition to other individual ID if they want. However, if I want to sell a trailer load of cows or calves, unless someone raises a question of ownership, no one "official" will think twice about whether the calves are mine to sell and in the past they would move with maybe only a back tag stuck on at the sale yard as individual "ID". New regulation has recently been announced to require RFID at first change of ownership. It won't take effect for a year or two. | |
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Let's take a poll...
