The Manitoba Pork Council said in a notice to producers Wednesday that the Canadian Pork Council will apply a 10 per cent increase to the prices of PigTrace ear tags and accessories, effective Dec. 15.

Table: PigTrace ear tag price list effective Dec. 15, 2023, including shipping; taxes extra.

As for accessories available from the program, the universal tag applicator will be priced at $30.04; the Retract-o-matic tag applicator, $80.99; a replacement tag pin, $3.50; and a permanent marker, $5.78.

Current pricing will be valid for orders placed and paid by Dec. 14 at 11:59 p.m. ET, the pork council said Wednesday.

The Manitoba council said the CPC “has incurred increased costs for the manufacture and distribution” of the ear tags throughout 2023. “These costs have unfortunately become unsustainable and must be passed on to customers.”

Hog producers can order tags online via their PigTrace accounts, by phone at 1-866-300-1825, by email or by contacting provincial pork offices in their area.

Reporting to PigTrace has been mandatory since 2014 for all people and organizations taking part in movement of pigs. The tag price was last raised in 2019.

“Increased risk from foreign animal diseases such as African swine fever make our traceability program a critical piece of preparedness and zoning activities,” the Manitoba council said Wednesday, adding the use of PigTrace tags for herd management is also encouraged. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Canadian beef producers can now link ultra-high-frequency technology (UHF) tags to tags approved by the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency. Once the tags are paired, scanning either tag will point to the same animal in the Canadian Livestock Tracking System database.

According to Anne Brunet-Burgess, general manager at the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency (CCIA), the UHF tags are primarily being used for management.

“One of the advantages of UHF is you can read or scan a big group of animals all at once,” Brunet-Burgess says. “So, they can take inventory quickly, from a pen or when they’re loading animals.”

Brunet-Burgess says the next step is to get the UHF tags approved internationally.

“A product of that sort has to have, first of all, ISO standards, and then there’s Canadian standards,” she says. “So that first step hasn’t started. So that’s why it’s only used in management and in specific situations like export.”

Brunet-Burgess says that although CCIA doesn’t favour one technology type over another, people in the industry have expressed interest in UHF tags, so CCIA decided to accommodate early adopters with their new database feature. It is her understanding that ISO is about two years away from establishing standards. That will be the starting point for the discussion in Canada before the complex decision of implementing UHF tags

Brunet-Burgess says there are pros and cons to the UHF tag. For her, an example of a pro is the UHF tag’s ability to scan a large group of animals. A con is the tag readers people have right now may not be compatible with UHF.

“There’s no perfect, wonderful solution that will be addressing all concerns and wants and needs,” she says. “But it doesn’t mean that we can’t move on from one to the other, it just means that they’re different. And I think that it’s important to weigh both sides.”

Brunet-Burgess says producers who are interested or need more information should head to the CCIA website, where there is also a sheet that compares low-frequency to high-frequency technology.

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To that end, the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency (CCIA) is now offering the loop tag, manufactured by Shearwell Data.

Paul Laronde, tag and technology manager at the CCIA, says the agency has a protocol for testing tags. It takes a little over a year to complete all the tests, he adds. “And they passed and it’s now in the market.”

The loop tag is a one-piece tag, which loops through the cow’s ear. In contrast, a classic plastic tag has two pieces connecting through the cow’s ear. It also has a radiofrequency chip. According to an info sheet on the CCIA website, the microchip is moulded in a plastic insert. This ensures the readability of the tag and read range of the transponder.

“Probably the virtue of the tag is, when it’s applied, it’s applied on the top of the ear of the cattle, and it’s just a flat piece of metal that lays on top of the ear,” Laronde says. “So generally, just less tag to get caught or snagged on things.”

Although producers requested CCIA bring in a tag like this, Laronde says there hasn’t been much of an uptake yet. Producers who decided to switch tags will need to purchase an applicator and learn how to use the tags.

Laronde also says that sometimes producers have trouble putting the tag on. The main issue is with growing calves, but he says there’s a simple solution.

“On a calf, you can’t just put it right on snug, you have to leave a little gap there,” Laronde says. “So as the ear grows, there’s room for that ear inside the loop of the tag. And if you don’t, then you risk getting an infection because it starts to put pressure on the tag.”

Laronde says a benefit of this tag is that it’s made from stainless steel instead of plastic or aluminum. He thinks that makes it a good option for purebred producers who use tattoos. If they want a visual tag in addition to their tattoo and the CCIA tag, it can be challenging to know where to put it so the tattoo doesn’t get damaged. The loop tag gets rid of this issue.

“With this particular tag, because it sits on the top of the ear, it leaves that other ear open for use with another tag.”

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If you thought toilet paper was a strange thing to hoard during these uncertain times, how about ear tags?

Supply shortages are affecting the availability of identification ear tags cattle producers need for commercial cattle production and marketing in Canada.

The problem isn’t that there are none to be had, just that suppliers are having a hard time keeping up to the demand, which has resulted in delivery delays.

Part of the reason is — you guessed it — hoarding.

Anne Brunet-Burgess, general manager of the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency, spoke to Canadian Cattlemen editor Lisa Guenther about the issue on the sidelines of this week’s Canadian Cattlemen’s Association annual meeting in Ottawa.

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Antelliq Group, formerly known as the Allflex Group, owns Allflex ear tags and SCR dairy monitoring technology. In a 12-month period ending in September 2018, the company booked $407 million worth of sales. Antitrust and competition law authorities will need to clear the deal, but both companies expect it to close by the second quarter of 2019.

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The purchase was overseen by PSP’s new team in London, led by Simon Marc, and is likely to be followed by further deals in Europe as PSP looks to increase its presence in Europe’s private equity market after having opened an office in London last year.

“We do have an increased emphasis on Europe,” said Guthrie Stewart, global head of private investments at PSP, which has $112 billion of assets under management.

Stewart said that, although PSP has significant infrastructure investments in the region, operating five airports in Europe and investing in the rail and ports sectors in the U.K., it was under-allocated in the private equity space.

“There’s been a conscious effort to increase our presence in Europe and a key initiative to do that is building out a team in London. That team led this effort together with resources for Montreal,” Stewart said in an interview.

Allflex grew from being a low-tech maker of plastic ear tags for cows to a world leader in high-tech labelling after the European Union tightened food traceability rules in 1998 in the wake of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) crisis.

Subsequent crises, including a 2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Britain, led to tighter supervision of how livestock is sourced and tracked in Europe, North America and Australasia.

“Allflex is a high-quality, fast-growing industry leader with a unique market position,” Stewart said in a release.

The company’s product lines today include radio‐frequency identification (RFID) and visual ear tags, tissue sampling devices, RFID implants, monitoring devices, milk meters and other farm equipment.

Electronic animal identification is increasingly regulated, which makes it harder for new players to start a business from scratch, leaving established operators such as Allflex with strong growth prospects.

BC Partners bought the Allflex business, based in Vitre, France, from private equity rival Electra Partners for US$1.3 billion in 2013. The British equity firm remains Allflex’s controlling shareholder.

Financial details of the transaction, including the percentage of Montreal-based PSP’s stake, were not disclosed.

PSP, short for the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, manages pension funds for members of the federal public service including the Canadian Forces and RCMP.

— Reporting for Reuters by Matt Scuffham. Includes files from AGCanada.com Network staff.

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Little could Glenn have known what the years ahead would bring when he set out down the road to check the bred-heifer pasture that late-fall day of 2009. It wasn’t odd that he didn’t see all of the cattle. Pastures are big with lots of bush in this area bordering the boreal forest north of Shellbrook, Sask. When the same 10 heifers failed to show up the next day, his first thought was that he had a fence to fix somewhere, not theft.

What was unusual was that after a couple of days looking and asking around, not one of their neighbours had seen the missing heifers. Families in this neck of the woods are tight with bonds that go back to the first generation on the land, he says. Someone would have called had they noticed cattle wandering at large.

Strube had notified the local RCMP detachment but couldn’t give them much to go on at the time except the description of the cattle and that they had yellow dangle management tags in their left ears and the required Canadian Cattle Identification Agency (CCIA) radio frequency identification buttons in their right ears. The Strubes normally brand their cattle, but the timing didn’t work out for branding the 2008-born heifer group.

Sure enough, a neighbour, Sigurd Skarsgard, contacted them a few days later with pertinent information.

Calling around to auction markets to find out whether any farmers from the area had delivered cattle, Strube learned that the farmer with pasture across the road from their heifer pasture had sold cattle at Sask­atoon Livestock Sales on October 13, 2009.

“If it hadn’t been for Les Tipton, the brand inspector (now retired) at Saskatoon, stepping up, nothing more would have happened,” Strube says. He described the cattle to Tipton, but Tipton didn’t let on at the time that the neighbour had indeed sold an unusual group of cattle with 10 animals that matched Strube’s description more than they matched the other cattle in the group. Following through the sales and manifest records, Tipton traced nine of the bred heifers to a feedlot in Saskatchewan and the other to an Alberta feedlot.

The Strubes suggested DNA testing to prove their rightful ownership. The couple runs a purebred Simmental operation and has up-to-date parentage records for every animal. Six of the bred heifers were purebred and the others were commercial Simmental-crosses.

As far as the Strubes were told, DNA testing had never before been used to crack a cattle theft case, but on the afternoon of December 31, 2009, a cavalcade of RCMP members made the trip to the farm to take hair samples from the dams and remaining sires of the stolen heifers. The Strubes’ bill came to a little over $1,000 for the on-farm tests and the RCMP paid for DNA testing the nine heifers found at the Saskatchewan feedlot.

The testing paid off because the stolen heifers proved to be from the Strube herd.

The suspect was subsequently charged with three Criminal Code offences: theft of the cattle, fraudulently keeping them in his possession, and making a false or counterfeit mark on them (removing Strube’s RFID tags and replacing them with his own).

Glenn underwent questioning on the stand for 2-1/2 hours during the preliminary hearing in October 2010, and another four hours of interrogation during the four-day court case in December 2012.

At the end of it all, Kelly Robin Deck was found guilty on the counts of stealing the heifers and making the counterfeit mark on them. He was ordered to pay restitution to the Strubes of $800 for each of the nine DNA-tested heifers and given a six-month conditional sentence with a curfew from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Needless to say, the Strubes were pleased with the verdict, but couldn’t hide their deep disappointment with the sentence. What it boiled down to was that the thief had to pay back the money he had made from selling the cattle!

That could hardly be considered a monetary penalty and certainly didn’t compensate the Strubes for the value of the heifers as productive females in the herd over their lifetimes.

They are extremely discouraged that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) failed to follow up on the conviction for switching out the CCIA tags. Two CFIA officials who had visited the farm early on had told them there would be big trouble to pay if the accused was found guilty of tampering with tags.

The CFIA is responsible for administering and enforcing the Health of Animals Act, which requires animals have unique identification tags. The animal identification regulations under Part XV of the act explain that, except upon death or slaughter of an animal, no person shall remove, or cause the removal of, an approved tag from an animal or carcass.

“Farmers have to go to all the trouble and expense with these tags and even in a case like this, someone who removes them and steals the animals gets nothing,” Glenn says.

The CFIA declined to comment on our questions related to the maximum penalty for tampering with tags and following through on enforcement on the grounds that the case was a Criminal Code investigation led by the RCMP and Saskatchewan Livestock Inspection Service.

The Criminal Code on the Government of Canada’s justice laws website covers the penalties for the crimes cited in the case. According to Section 338 (1) (b) (ii), everyone who without consent of the owner fraudulently, in whole or part, makes a false or counterfeit brand or mark on cattle is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years. Part 2 of the same section states that the maximum sentence for theft of cattle is a term not exceeding 10 years.

Christine says she gets it that no jail time was ordered because the system is filled with the most dangerous criminals, but the couple feels that the six-month conditional sentence was little more than a slap on the wrist for theft and tampering with the tags, let alone a deterrent to cattle rustlers.

The judge told them the reason for not handing down a stiffer penalty on either count was because Deck suffered an additional punishment of having to live in his community with this conviction hanging over his head, and recommended that the Strubes follow up with a civil suit to claim the full value of the breeding heifers.

They didn’t see why after going through two court cases, the thief being proven guilty, expertise available to help the court determine the real cost of losing 10 animals from the breeding herd and, when all was said and done, they still had to go through civil court to get the rest of the money.

It turned out that they had lots of time to consider whether filing a civil suit would be worth the cost and stress because Deck launched an appeal. It was heard in the Sask­atch­ewan Court of Appeal on April 15, 2014. The judgment handed down nine days later upheld the trial judge’s verdicts and the appeal was dismissed.

Court decisions are public documents housed on the Canadian Legal Information Institute’s website (www.canlii.org). According to the court document (R. v. Deck, [2014] SKCA 44), the Appeal Court is required to show great deference to a trial judge’s findings of credibility and the trial judge had made adverse findings in relation to Deck’s credibility.

Deck never denied to the court that the Strube heifers had been in his yard and acknowledged that he had sold them, but claimed that he thought the heifers were his even though he knew the Strubes were looking for cattle at the time he sold the animals. The trial judge didn’t accept Deck’s evidence that he was so unfamiliar with his cattle operation that he didn’t notice Strube’s yearlings among his own animals. The appeal judge found that Deck was able to give quite detailed evidence about the composition of his herd at the time.

Deck’s initial statement that he had no idea how to remove tags didn’t hold water either. The appeal judge agreed with the trial judge’s conclusion that, while some of the Strube tags “could have fallen out by the fall of 2009, it was not ‘within the realm of possibility’ that all of those tags could have fallen out or been lost by that time” and that Deck had removed the tags and replaced them with his own before selling the animals.

The Strubes did follow through with a civil suit, which was settled out of court in May of last year.

The couple came forward with their story in the hope that it will help create awareness among ranchers across Canada that cattle rustling can happen anywhere, any time.

“This happens more often than we hear about to ranchers, but they don’t have a lead on who did it or can’t prove it. We were lucky to have the evidence and felt we were willing to go through this to represent other ranchers in sending a message to cattle rustlers that they cannot keep getting away with this,” Christine says.

They for one will make sure their brand is on each and every animal from now on and will continue to diligently check their cattle and keep good herd records.

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The final report on the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency’s (CCIA) national tag retention project will be made public on its website this April along with details on retention rates for each of the seven makes of tags approved for animal identification in Canada and one of the Quebec-approved tags.

Project leader Ross Macdonald says considering that the retention rate for calves was quite high, averaging 98.9 per cent in the first 18 months of the pro­ject, he wasn’t sure what to expect for the mature cows. Preliminary findings indicate that it is lower at 89.7 per cent.

“This is in line with what we have been hearing on the ground that tag retention in calves isn’t the problem. The problem is with the cows,” says Macdonald a consultant and cow-calf producer from Lake Alma, Sask.

The preliminary mature-cow findings included data from 13 project herds scanned in 2014 out of 18 herds in all. Macdonald and Dr. Paul Jefferson, vice-president of operations for the Western Beef Development Centre, who has been involved in the project from the design stages through statistical analysis, will be poring through the four years of data once the final scans wrap up this winter.

Macdonald and an assistant tagged more than 5,000 head of commercial cattle beginning at spring processing in 2011 for most of the 3,600 calves, and at fall preg checking for most of the cows, with the remainder tagged in 2012.

Herds selected for the project were spread out from British Columbia through Ontario and ranged in size from 76 to 535 head to put tag performance to the test under differing geographies, climates and styles of farming.

All project-tagged animals remaining in the herds have been scanned annually. Some of the cows in the mature-cow analysis were tagged as calves and retained in the breeding herd, while some of the mature cows tagged the first year have since been culled.

Whereas there wasn’t much variability in tag retention rates across the makes of tags and location of the herds for fall-weaned calves and yearlings, retention was quite variable for the mature cows. This brought the overall retention rate for all ages of project cattle to the end of 2014 down to an average of 88.9 per cent. It ranged from a low of 64.7 in some herds to 100 per cent in others.

The final report will lend some insight into reasons for tag loss and how producers might improve retention rates and readability. It will include the complete project description and statistical analyses of tag retention rates for cattle of all ages across all project herds, tag losses by herd and tag loss and read rates by make.

It will then be up to the CCIA board to decide on the next step for this research. The original project called for following tag retention through the lifetime of the cows, which would normally be eight or nine years.

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