When Lyle Miller received a warning from CFIA about six years ago that 40 per cent of the CCIA ear tags were missing from a shipment of cattle sent to a packing plant, he put it down to bad tags. When he received a similar warning a couple years later, he needed to investigate.
“I’m like, what the heck? So we did a bit of research and found out both warnings were for cattle that had been in the same pen in the feedlot and we wondered, what’s different. I went out into this feedlot and there is a culvert in the feedlot covered in a type of mesh. And there were hundreds of buttons laying on the ground,” said Miller, chair of the Canadian Cattle Identifi cation Agency (CCIA) and owner of Highway 21 Feeders near Acme, Alberta.
The tags had ripped out of the curious cattle’s ears while they investigated their surroundings or scratched on the wire mesh covering the culvert. Miller said it’s an example of one of the key pillars of CCIA’s Retention Matters campaign: know your environment and how it may affect tag retention.
Bale grazing with the twine still covering the bale can also increase the likelihood of tags being caught in the string and ripped from the ear. Knowing this is a common way for tags to be lost, farmers can cut the twine from the bales before grazing to reduce the chances of losing tags.
“Educating people on common places where tags are lost might help cattle producers change their environment and be aware of those,” Miller said.
CCIA, now in its 25th year, launched the Retention Matters campaign to promote best practices with the goal of improving tag retention. The agency estimates that in some areas, 8 to 10 per cent of the tags are lost from the Canadian herd after they are applied. These tags, with individual identifi cation numbers, are mandatory once the animal leaves the farm of origin to trace the animal’s history. Tag retention is the number one complaint received by CCIA’s staff and the Retention Matters education campaign was launched to address common complaints.
“We take tag complaints seriously.”
At his own feedlot, Miller said the plastic tag backs kept breaking when they tried to attach the tags. Once again they put it down to poor plastic used in the manufacturing process. It turns out they were using a tag applicator from a different manufacturer. While the half a dozen different tags and applicators look similar, they are not interchangeable.
“I am supposed to be one of the higher ups in CCIA and we were not even doing it right at our own place,” Miller said, continuing that he hopes the education campaign will help producers understand issues that can create tag retention problems.
One of these issues is to take the job seriously. This past summer, Miller was at a branding event with his own cattle and noticed the job of ear tagging was given to a 10-year-old wanting to help out.
“We used to consider applying the tags a lowskilled job,” he said. “We give it to the kids. Nobody spends two seconds with this person to make sure the tags are going in the right way or the right part of the ear or anything. I spent time with this 10-year-old training and retraining for the first five or seven animals to try and make sure it was done properly.”
Now, they start every calving season and feedlot meeting with tagging training. Together they read the brochures sent out from the tag manufacturers and ensure everyone at the feedlot or in the calving barn knows the correct way to apply the ear tags.
Veterinarian and CCIA director Dr. Oliver Schunicht said he believes it’s his role to educate producers on the best ear tag placement when visiting a farm. If the tags are placed in the recommended location on the ear and with the correct applicator and the tags continue to fall out, then the industry can go back to the manufacturers and demand a better tag.
“As a veterinarian, I understand the importance of animal traceback and foreign disease control. If we have one tag that would last the animal’s entire lifetime, that would be ideal.”
If you would like to learn more, visit www.retentionmatters.ca
