C-J
Member
I'm sorry to drop the ball here! It's just that I'm apparently a dolt! I keep seeing this topic come up and it looks like the reply to my post was the last one....then I saw the page 2 icon at the bottom of page 1 and...duh!
Maybe I can answer the questions that Traveler asked.
Speed: We can run cattle through a pretty simple overhead "gate" that can be as wide as 16' (widest I ever did) as fast as they can run and we might miss one out of fifty to a hundred. I've done that dozens of times from California to Pennsylvania and in Alberta and it took no more than 45 minutes to set it up. If someone can tell me how to upload a video I'll happily do that.
Information: That really depends on the producer. I had asked the software guys to set it all up on a permission basis. Lots of ranchers don't want their personal info going to the world so they could share what they wanted, whether it was just the tag number ranging right through to vaccinations, treatments, etc. All was supposed to be in their control. In terms of what they got back, the database was supposed to be "open" on the way back so that when the animal was slaughtered the information would be available without having to wait for a disk or excel file that the producer may or may not be good with. It was all supposed to go into a web-based secure database. The idea was to charge a TINY amount to each organization in the chain so that they could share what they wanted or needed. So, a producer might get charged for the tag, the trucker might pay a nickel/hd., the market another dime, the feedyard pays a dime, and so forth.
However, I had a senior VP from one of the largest feedyard outfits in the country tell me that his company would happily buy all the tags for the producers IF they knew that they could get their cattle into their yards. It's ALL about data for them. Knowing breed (not just color), birth date, health information, etc. Actually knowing it, not just what (some) people fabricate could change their whole operation. Right now they have to manage to the lowest common denominator - with accurate info they can do a much better job.
All the yards I knew were happy to share the performance data back to the producer though they knew it might cost them a bit more for their calves if the producer knew how well they did. The current system really, truly doesn't give the yards much information on what purchase group does very well because few are individually identified. Anyway, I'm probably off track, but hope that helps.
I'll summarize by saying this: though I have huge concerns (and a way around them) with the government knowing all the details on all the cattle in our countries having individual ID and a data stream that works properly could be a huge benefit to ALL producers at all stages of our industry who are really interested in improvement. There is a way to provide full, instant data transparency without a central database, but that's a topic for another day.
Maybe I can answer the questions that Traveler asked.
Speed: We can run cattle through a pretty simple overhead "gate" that can be as wide as 16' (widest I ever did) as fast as they can run and we might miss one out of fifty to a hundred. I've done that dozens of times from California to Pennsylvania and in Alberta and it took no more than 45 minutes to set it up. If someone can tell me how to upload a video I'll happily do that.
Information: That really depends on the producer. I had asked the software guys to set it all up on a permission basis. Lots of ranchers don't want their personal info going to the world so they could share what they wanted, whether it was just the tag number ranging right through to vaccinations, treatments, etc. All was supposed to be in their control. In terms of what they got back, the database was supposed to be "open" on the way back so that when the animal was slaughtered the information would be available without having to wait for a disk or excel file that the producer may or may not be good with. It was all supposed to go into a web-based secure database. The idea was to charge a TINY amount to each organization in the chain so that they could share what they wanted or needed. So, a producer might get charged for the tag, the trucker might pay a nickel/hd., the market another dime, the feedyard pays a dime, and so forth.
However, I had a senior VP from one of the largest feedyard outfits in the country tell me that his company would happily buy all the tags for the producers IF they knew that they could get their cattle into their yards. It's ALL about data for them. Knowing breed (not just color), birth date, health information, etc. Actually knowing it, not just what (some) people fabricate could change their whole operation. Right now they have to manage to the lowest common denominator - with accurate info they can do a much better job.
All the yards I knew were happy to share the performance data back to the producer though they knew it might cost them a bit more for their calves if the producer knew how well they did. The current system really, truly doesn't give the yards much information on what purchase group does very well because few are individually identified. Anyway, I'm probably off track, but hope that helps.
I'll summarize by saying this: though I have huge concerns (and a way around them) with the government knowing all the details on all the cattle in our countries having individual ID and a data stream that works properly could be a huge benefit to ALL producers at all stages of our industry who are really interested in improvement. There is a way to provide full, instant data transparency without a central database, but that's a topic for another day.