TODAYS $$$$ value of RFID calves with RECORDS ?

[PORKER]

Mike is right about copyrights,and back on topic,was down to the big packer at Plainwell Mich.They need source verified cows for their ground beef sales.They need records for each animal back to birth nomatter how old the cows are.They are paying a bonus for animal information.

 

[STAFF]

With McDonalds wanting meat traceback our ScoringAg recordkeeping system will earn producers more dollars for spent cows that have RFID tags or boluses with records to prove source verification.

 

[PORKER]

Here is another GOOD DEAL MIKE,

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Slaughter Animal Origin Verificaton

A JOINT VENTURE OF FPL FOODS, LLC
and the SOUTHEASTERN LIVESTOCK NETWORK, LLC.

Purpose

Identifying animals entering the harvest phase that are verifiably traceable to the farm of origin has a distinctly definable value to all sectors of the production and marketing sectors of the meat animal industry. Providing a platform where the information necessary to establish this value can be gathered, verified, transferred and audited in a confidential manner, with a minimum of impact on the producers or markets is the goal.

Eligible Markets

Any market, direct shipper or buyer sending animals to FPL Foods, LLC is eligible to participate in the project.

Entry Requirements

1. Ability to collect and transfer the necessary data to the SLN by the close of the first business day following the sale in question.
2. Willingness to incorporate the required forms into dock-in procedure.
3. Computerized transfer of records is preferred.
4. Willingness to allow SLN staff to work with current market software provider to establish reporting function.

Animals Qualifying

Any slaughter animal that is purchased by FPL Foods, LLC and is traceable to the farm of birth is eligible. Traceability to the farm of birth is defined by the signature of the producer presenting the animal for sale at the sale in question. That producer certifies that either the animal was born on their farm or the producer has possession of documentation necessary to establish the farm of birth and the date that they acquired the animal.

Auditability

The entire system must be auditable and periodically will be tested to insure its integrity. In the event that a producer reports an animal as being born on their farm then their signature becomes the end of the audit trail. In the event that an animal is reported to have been born on a farm other than that of the person presenting the animal for sale, then the documentation establishing the producer’s right to make that claim is the end of the audit trail.

Protocol

Producer presenting a slaughter animal for sale is offered the opportunity to sign an origin verification affidavit. These affidavits are to remain on file at the participating market as they represent an important step in the audit trail.
If there is not a mechanism to differentiate the animals as they are sold the origin verifiable animals should be tagged with a colored back-tag in addition to the normal tag used for identification. SLN will work with the market to develop a mechanism to differentiate the program animals.
After the sale, the origin verified animals that are purchased by or for FPL Foods, LLC will be tagged with an RFID tag supplied by the Southeastern Livestock Network, LLC and cross referenced to the back tag number of that animal. SLN has options for the markets to collect this cross reference information either by electronically reading the tags or through the use of a paper reporting system.
At the close of the sale, the market will send to SLN a report in the attached format. This file must be transmitted by the close of business on the next normal business day after the sale.
Once the animals have appeared at FPL Foods, LLC in Augusta, GA the agreed compensations will be distributed by FPL.

Compensations

The entity applying the RFID tag will be paid a chute fee of $2.00/head and reimbursed $2.00/tag.
The cooperating market will be paid a fee of $4.00/head of tagged animals for collecting and transmitting the necessary data.
These compensations are only payable on animals that are harvested at FPL Foods, LLC in Augusta, GA.
While no direct compensation will be made to producers, the additional costs of participation are covered and the availability of these animals should develop a differential price advantage for participation.

Federal Pilot Project

The Southeastern Livestock Network, LLC, in cooperation with State Animal Health Officials, will be conducting a USDA Pilot Project to explore implementation of the National Animal Identification System in early 2005. The protocol outlined in this document is not a part of the USDA Pilot Project, however we do anticipate that the markets chosen to participate in the USDA Pilot Project will be chosen from those already participating in this ongoing effort with FPL Foods, LLC.


What are the steps to begin?

Contact the state SLN, LLC member (cattleman’s association) or the offices of SLN at (859)278-0899.
Identify all potential buyers in the market that potentially could send cattle to FPL Foods, LLC and establish their level of willingness to participate.
Secure the necessary forms and tags from SLN.
Establish a reporting mechanism with the SLN office.
Establish a filing system for paperwork maintained at the market office.
Contact State Animal Health Official to initiate Premise Identification codes for the producers and non-producer participant code for the market. If official codes are not available, SLN in cooperation with the State Animal Health Official will work with the market to develop an interim coding system.
Decide on method of recording the cross referenced back tag and RFID at chute side after the sale.
Initiate the connection between the computer software provider at the market and SLN staff in order to establish a reporting procedure.

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[STAFF]

Identifying animals entering the harvest phase that are verifiably traceable to the farm of origin has a distinctly definable value to all sectors of the production and marketing sectors of the meat animal industry. Providing a platform where the information necessary to establish this value can be gathered, verified, transferred and audited in a confidential manner, with a minimum of impact on the producers or markets is the goal.
The easy way is to have a complete database for all handlers including transportation from Field to fork.When information is requested the database can respond to the question if the food handler has the item or animal in his possession.This increases value at any point in the chain of custody like calves with RFID buttons and a database behind them with records.

 

[Mike]

Identifying animals entering the harvest phase that are verifiably traceable to the farm of origin has a distinctly definable value to all sectors of the production and marketing sectors of the meat animal industry. Providing a platform where the information necessary to establish this value can be gathered, verified, transferred and audited in a confidential manner, with a minimum of impact on the producers or markets is the goal.
The easy way is to have a complete database for all handlers including transportation from Field to fork.When information is requested the database can respond to the question if the food handler has the item or animal in his possession.This increases value at any point in the chain of custody like calves with RFID buttons and a database behind them with records.

Not doubting your above comments one bit Staff. But just try convincing some of these old farts down here to put a RFID tag in each calf and keep records on them! I'm sure it's that way in a lot of other places too. Until they see a buyer at the sale barn paying more for the I.D. calves, they just ain't gonna do it. It's a privacy and way of life thing. You dig?

 

[Anonymous]

Identifying animals entering the harvest phase that are verifiably traceable to the farm of origin has a distinctly definable value to all sectors of the production and marketing sectors of the meat animal industry. Providing a platform where the information necessary to establish this value can be gathered, verified, transferred and audited in a confidential manner, with a minimum of impact on the producers or markets is the goal.
The easy way is to have a complete database for all handlers including transportation from Field to fork.When information is requested the database can respond to the question if the food handler has the item or animal in his possession.This increases value at any point in the chain of custody like calves with RFID buttons and a database behind them with records.

Not doubting your above comments one bit Staff. But just try convincing some of these old farts down here to put a RFID tag in each calf and keep records on them! I'm sure it's that way in a lot of other places too. Until they see a buyer at the sale barn paying more for the I.D. calves, they just ain't gonna do it. It's a privacy and way of life thing. You dig?

I always get a kick out of people talking about maintaining their privacy-- then they pull out their cell phone which tracks them every minute of the day- or jump in their new car with Onstar that does the same- go to a store and pay by check or credit card which instantly tells the system where you are....

Anymore if they want to bad enough- they can find you about anywhere- which I could care less, but I'm sure has bothered some of the Al-Quaeda leaders that got a CIA missile in the ear while talking on their cell phone.....

 

[Mike]

I know a bunch of older guys that I love dearly, but laugh at their antics, that would not have one of the new $20 dollar bills that had the embedded strip. They thought that it was a way of tracking his money by satellite!

I showed one of them my handheld GPS receiver one day. I put it on the map mode while we were in my truck traveling to a sale. The x kept moving on the map as we traveled and he was absolutely fascinated! Came up with every conspiracy in the world of how this could be used by the guvment.
Cell Phone - OUT OF THE QUESTION! Especially when I told them that the new ones have "built-in GPS".

 

[STAFF]

Old IDEAS or New IDEAS MAKE money A midst rattling stock trailers and clanging gates an unfamiliar, methodical beep signaled a new era in the cattle industry. As feeder calves passed through single file, a beep emitted by an electronic reader denoted reception of information transmitted from each animal's radio frequency identification (RFID) ear tag. This data translated into additional dollars for producers at Joplin Regional Stockyards' (JRS), Carthage, MO.

"If it puts money in our producers' pockets, we're going to do it," asserts Jackie Moore, co-owner, JRS.

Driven by this desire, JRS offered, for the first time, source-verified cattle during their Value Added Sale, in June . Cattlemen realized premiums of $5 to $8/cwt. over JRS's Monday Feeder Calf Sale, in June .

Buyers actively bid on preconditioned feeder cattle, all outfitted with RFID tags, which allow for trace back to each animal's point of origin. One lot of medium- to large-framed steers, scoring a muscle thickness of No. 1, averaged 516 lbs. and demanded an average of $148/cwt.; while another lot averaged 769 lbs. and averaged $117.97 as the gavel fell. A group of medium to large, No. 1-2 heifers averaged 766 lbs. and $107.63/cwt.

 

[PORKER]

FRUITLAND, Mo. - Records for bred-cattle prices continue to be set - and broken - in Show-Me-Select Replacement Heifer Sales. On May 7, Saturday, 238 head averaged $1,515 per head at the Fruitland Livestock Auction.

The top pen averaged $2,200 for five black heifers sold by SEMO University Farm, managed by Bill Ellis. SEMO earned the top consignor average of $1,789 for 29 heifers.

There were 11 consignors, with gross sales of $360,000.

A year ago, the spring sale at Fruitland averaged $1,392, a record, with the top lot, a single heifer, bringing $2,000. Eakins reported on a semi-truck load of 40 market heifers and steers shipped two weeks ago that brought an average price of $1,225. That price included a premium of $116 per head, based on a marketing grid that rewards carcass quality and yield. Most of those calves were from consigning herds in the Show-Me-Select heifer sale.

"These are source verified cattle with known birth dates," Eakins said. All of the cattle from the herds shipped to slaughter carry electronic identification (EID) RFID ear tags.

Missouri Show-Me-Select Replacement Heifer, Inc., oversees the program. Farmer committees manage the local sales.

 

[PORKER]

These source verified calves all had RFID tags which indentify records and origin.
A four-month study was conducted at the Joplin Regional Stockyards (south-
western Missouri) to compare prices paid for calves with no vaccination history
with calves in value-added health programs.
• Analysis of factors influencing sale price showed that calves in health programs
were purchased at significantly higher prices than calves with no
vaccination history.
• Calves in the PreVAC and WeanVAC
®
protocols received $26.05 and $28.69
more per head, respectively, than calves with no vaccination history.
• Calves in the WeanVAC
®
protocol received $3.98 more per head than calves in
other competitive vaccination programs.
• Results of the study provide additional evidence that the level of reward is suf-
ficiently high to justify investing in a calf health program simply on the basis of
its market value.Here is a link to the study where records show where the price increases came from. It pays to RFID calves . http://www.joplinstockyards.com/vac/jrschart.pdf

 

[STAFF]

Here another story that shows RFID and Recordkeeping works hand to hand and why the press release from McDonalds about wanting more source verified beef and they are willing to pay for it becomes important.

In Texas, the Brown Ranch near Beeville has been using electronic identification since the late 1990s to individually track calves. They invested money, around $2,000, to put in a system that included the electronic tag reader, scale modifications, software and the cost of tags each year.

The Brown’s calves go through a preconditioning, source-verified program at a regional livestock market, Jordan Livestock Auction. The animals are processed at the ranch and given EID tags, which contain information on vaccinations given and individual-animal weights to be passed on to buyers.

Even with the cost of implementing the system, ranch owner Austin Brown II sees a payback to individual electronic ID systems in terms of marketing. “The last sale, we received $8 to $12 per hundredweight over the cash market.”

After using electronic ID for a number of years, he understands producers’ fears, but says he’s seen real benefits in terms of marketing cattle that regularly receive premiums. He adds that labor cost associated with putting in the tags and entering the information is minimal since the cattle have to go through the chute anyway for processing. Mr. Brown also can use the data on the cattle to make management decisions at the ranch.

But don’t assume that placing an electronic identification tag alone will increase the value of your cattle. It’s the processes, like preconditioning, that these ID’s can show buyers where you may receive a premium.

Using data to recoup costs .

That’s where the cost will be recouped, says Dr. Dhuyvetter, when producers begin using the system for individual-animal management. “This could be good for the industry and help producers in making marketing and management decisions that make us more efficient in producing beef.”

For example, the information could show average daily gains, but potentially how things like respiratory treatment impacts average daily gain or how castrating or not castrating bull calves impacts average daily gain. Once the systems are in place, then producers could get complete carcass data on an individual animal if they chose to track the animal to that point. All of those aspects mean greater opportunities for making decisions that will improve your business.

 

[PORKER]

Even better RFID Returns,Approximately 500 head of Seminole cattle have been bought by major feed lots in states such as Texas and Oklahoma in anticipation of a big demand for "source-verified" U.S. beef in Japan once trade doors open again, said Allen Huff, the tribe's Okeechobee-based land-use manager

The cattle are raised at the tribe's Brighton Reservation in Glades County, on the northwestern side of Lake Okeechobee.

The tribe's participation in a cutting-edge electronic identification system, which can provide an animal's complete history within 48 hours for each of its 14,000 head of cattle, helped bring the highest prices ever for its beef this spring, Huff said.

Prices were up as much 20 percent over a year ago.

 

[PORKER]

Charles Dorsey, a cow-calf producer near Pryor, Okla., placed 60 head in this RFID sale and was pleased with the sale results. He says the tags cost $3 per head plus the cost of vaccinations for the value-added sale. “But we made our money back plus some,” he says, and this fall he plans to put 300-plus fall-weaned calves in the sale.

In the bigger picture, the program will provide another benefit learning how the cattle performed on down the production line. “This gives me an opportunity to get information on calves from the feedlot and the packer,” says Mr. Dorsey. “And if I can prove my cattle will perform well, then that will increase their demand.”

According to USDA market reports, the sale had a capacity crowd and prices received for the cattle were $8 to $10 per hundredweight above average.

 

[STAFF]

The Extra profits to be made in the cattle industry have sure taken off.The RFID tagged animal with records is returning some of the best returns seen in recent times.When the traceback of food products is used it has a reason,with lawsuits today and food recalls, risk management is the word as it is cheaper to pay extra for known products that have a origin and proven husbandry pratices that are recorded in real time than to buy an unknown that wipes out months of profits over a recall. www.scoringag.com is the world standard of traceback nomatter the list of commodities or the types of commodities used in the world .

 

[PORKER]

Packers want RFID source verifed cattle

If U.S. Premium Beef's (USPB) recent announcement that it will pay $10/head for source verification is any indication, more cow-calf producers, and the stockers who buy their cattle, need to start creating and transferring data that makes tracking and attribute verification possible.


“We believe producers who can trace cattle back to their origin and provide age verification will obtain more value relative to the market,” says Steve Hunt, CEO of USPB. “While there is not the level of interest domestically that we see in Japan currently, interest in source verification in this country is growing, and will revolve around perceived or actual risk expressed by the consumer.”

USPB's premium for source and age verification is a trial of sorts. Producers can enroll cattle now that will be delivered to USPB-owned National Beef this spring.

“Negotiators are moving toward a paper trail for export to other countries, particularly to Japan,” Hunt says. “As we look at the rules being negotiated with Japan, we see that a limited number of cattle will qualify, so I think there will be value in cattle that can qualify.

“Currently we're looking at the export markets, particularly at Japan, and we all understand it takes time to develop eligible supplies. We've started with $10/head for spring delivery. That's subject to change. As things develop, we anticipate that value could move higher,” Hunt says.

 

[Murgen]

And so what does have to do with paying for a high end priced bolus, that is hard to retrieve?

Can't a well managed ear tag system do all you are promoting?

 

[PORKER]

Do you get free repacement RFID tags or Barcode premises tags when the animal loses it in Canada? Boluses are not to be retrieved until after slaughter with no reuse.

Can't a well managed ear tag system do all you are promoting?Mergan

What I'am promoting is recordkeeping and I carry those records with me everywhere.I agree ,a well managed RFID tag system is benificial to a profitable ranch or farm operation as I use one everyday.When an animal loses a tag I have to pay for it out of my pocket ,plus the cost of labor of putting in a new one.The retention rate of tags is only about 80 % when you run cattle in wooded and brush country .

 

[PORKER]

The Internet Cattle auction site www.cattlerange.com has a new listing for RFID sourced and verified origin cattle with records.Looks to be the coming thing since the beef industry is paying extra for cattle with production records.I also see that New... "Value Enhanced" Listings have a web based databank site that they want the records to reside in at www.scoringag.com for those value enhanced cattle an calves records to be recorded before a sale happens that can be called RFID source verified and field attributes such as vaccinations and breed,sex and age.

 

[STAFF]

Porker, www.cattlerange.com is a Deal Direct sale web site,quite a different type of sales tool.

On another note I have found an RFID verification some my be interested in below

During their time with Superior Livestock Auction, the Gaults implemented several value added processes. First, they offered genetic verification through the Red Angus Feeder Calf Certification Program.

“If you’re already using Red Angus bulls, it is a ‘big time’ advantage to use the Certified Red Angus tagging program and remove any doubt buyers have about the genetic makeup of the calves,” said Meira Gault.

Next they began using Superior Livestock Auction’s Vac 34 program and feel it has paid big dividends as buyers have confidence they can truck the cattle and still have them arrive healthy. More recently, the Gaults have begun listing their calves as “Owner Certified Natural”. Finally, Butch Mayfield, their Superior Livestock Auction rep, advised the Gaults on the importance of providing nutritional information to potential buyers. A little extra effort and a lot of value-added information paid off for the Gault’s, whose consignment to Superior Livestock Auction’s 2004 Labor Day Sale topped their weight bracket at $142.00/cwt.

Odle agrees with the Gaults on the importance of value added programs. His experience suggests uniform calves from reputation genetics, with documented vaccinations, Source Verified and/or Certified Natural will be worth upwards of an additional $10/cwt.

 

[PORKER]

Producers who participate in the voluntary program are seeing premiums in the marketplace.

"McDonald's and Wal-Mart want source-verified product," Frost said. "Last fall, I sold calves to a feeder in northern Illinois. We had them all individually ID, and he gave me a $10 premium per head. It's fast coming. Tyson works with Wal-Mart as a supplier of case- ready beef. I look for them to gear up and want source-identified. I think producers who are willing to do this will find it's a benefit, and the sooner they do it, the better."

The tags to identify cattle cost producers from $1.75 to $2.25 apiece.

"Anytime you can invest $1.75 and get a $10 to $20 premium, it's worth it," Frost said. "I think in three or four years, you'll send your cattle to market with a floppy disk. A scanner will read the tags as they get off the truck, and the source will be verified before they get to the scales. Eventually, there may not be as big of premiums because everyone will be doing this. But for those calves who can't be identified, there will be sizeable discounts."