There continues to be debate regarding the issue of a national animal identification system. Depending upon the publication you read, animal identification might be some government plot to drive the small livestock farmer out of business, or an absolutely necessary step to insure the safety and protection of the livestock industry, or maybe something in between.
Separating fact from rumor can be a challenge. However, stepping back from some of the emotional baggage that a national animal identification system brings, I want to consider just the issue of animal identification. For most beef producers this concept by itself presents no problem. Most beef producers have some system of identifying cows and calves. Are we at a place in the market and consumer demand where animal identification could be leveraged as a marketing tool?
In mid-November I was a part of a small meeting that had been set up by Ben DeLong, a sales manager with ADM Alliance Nutrition. The purpose of the meeting was to hear a presentation by Mark Wellman, a regional sales manager with a company called CattleLog. CattleLog is a software, data service, and reporting company that provides animal identification and information service to its customers. The focus of CattleLog is to add value to cattle through this service. It has approximately 3000 customers in 41 states and 70% of those are involved with the cow/calf enterprise.
The use of animal identification through private industry is being driven by market demand for process age and source verification of beef. That is, increasingly the market, packers, meat exporters, foreign customers such as Japan, and even domestic consumers, want to know without a doubt where the animal they eat came from and how old that animal was at the time of slaughter. According to Mr. Wellman, source verified calf sales have averaged a $5/cwt premium which translates into an extra $20-$25 per head. In order to get this type of value-added marketing, there obviously needs to be a cooperating sales barn/livestock auction that can put together at least 500 calves that are source verified.
So, how does the CattleLog program work? It is a USDA certified process verified program, meaning that cattle approved under this process can enter any supply chain. It is expected that these type of cattle will become increasingly more desired by packers or other buyers because of the supply chain options available, both domestic and foreign. The CattleLog system provides the cow/calf producer with electronic ID ear buttons/tags, and provides a worksheet that the producer fills out regarding calf ID, birth date and any other information the producer wants to enter. That worksheet is sent back to CattleLog where it is entered in a database. At least two weeks before a calf is sent to a sale, the producer must contact CattleLog and request an audit. CattleLog sends a trained certifier to the farm to look at the records, match calves and cows to the record and verifies the age and source of the calves. The producer receives a copy of the audit report along with an official approval letter and listing of each individual animal that is verified. The cost for the basic program that includes age and source verification is around $3.75 per head.
According to Mr. Wellman of CattleLog, the service can also be used by various beef alliances, branded beef and specific breed programs to verify their marketing criteria. For example, in addition to cattle being age and source verified, cattle can be verified as an all-natural beef using no antibiotics, or implants. Some alliances are using animal ID verification to market animals as Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) certified. Whatever qualifications a particular group or even individual producer might want to use to distinguish their beef in the market can be verified through records and an audit by an independent, certified service such as CattleLog. The ADM Alliance connection to CattleLog is that there is a discount in the price/head to any producer who uses ADM products, however this is not necessary to participate in the CattleLog program.
Source: Rory Lewandowski, OSUExtensionEducatorAthensCounty