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Indiana farmers can try electronic ear tags through pilot program

You may have heard the arguments both in favor of and against electronic identification of cattle on Saturday morning farm news TV programs.

One producer mentioned a premium price that he receives because his animals have radio frequency identification (RFID) tags in their ears.

Many international and/or out-of-state buyers demand to know the source of the beef that they are purchasing in the U.S. Sometimes they will pay a premium price for this verification.

However, farmers selling cattle through local markets may simply feel that using RFID tags is an added cost. Thus, they see no benefit to their bottom line from using them.

Regardless of the bottom line implications, there are many cattle producers using this technology in their operations.

The Indiana Board of Animal Health (BOAH) is providing producers with RFID tags as part of a pilot program. One important point about Indiana's RFID program for cattle is that it is not currently a mandatory program.

The state of Michigan, in contrast, has had a mandatory program for their producers in place for nearly 3 years.
The Indiana BOAH calls their program, "Indiana's 840 Pilot Tag Program." The yellow, button style tags are free to cattle producers located in the state. The free tags are for use only in intact breeding cattle, which are expected to remain in Indiana.

Producers must have a premise ID number to link the tags to a specific location.

Each of these yellow RFID tags has a 15-digit number on the outside of the tag. Note that the first 3 digits of the numbers on all the issued tags is the U.S. code - 840. The code on the tags can be read either visually or electronically with a reader attached to a computer program.

These tags are essentially tamper-proof and anyone who removes them prior to animal slaughter may be subject to penalties.

In 2010 the Indiana BOAH offered their 840 RFID tags for use on 4-H steers and heifers. There are also other RFID tags that can be purchased separately for 4-H sheep and goats.

In Huntington County some 4-H cattle, sheep and goats will be tagged with the RFID tags as part of the enrollment process in 2010.

Additional information about Indiana's cattle identification program can be found on the BOAH website, www.in.gov/boah/2533.htm.

The website discusses the following reasons why the BOAH launched the voluntary 840 RFID program and encourages the use of this technology:

- Meet Michigan importation requirements;

- Are Country-of-Origin-Labeling (COOL)-compliant;

- Assist producers with accurate, electronic record keeping;

- Can easily integrate with current commercially available production software; and

- Are free, while pilot program supplies last.

For more information, contact Ed Farris, agriculture and natural resource educator, Purdue Extension - Huntington County Office, at 358-4826.

The office is located at 354 N. Jefferson St., Suite 202.