- RELATED: Garah field day draws in farmers
WITH prices dropping and demand for traceability increasing, electronic identification (EID) in commercial sheep flocks is becoming more common.
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Practical systems sales and marketing manager, Francis Waddell, Armidale, said as seasonal conditions become tougher more farmers are wanting to get individual returns from their flock.
Mr Waddell said EID processes allow producers to look at an animal’s individual micron, weight or performance in general and make management decisions based off that information.
Previously, commercial sheep enterprises worked off a mob based average, with no real way on individually identifying sheep.
Now, Mr Waddell said with software available that can literally rank sheep in how they’re performing, producers are able to cull their bottom performers with the click of a button.
Currently, Practical Systems is servicing 6000 customers who are using EID technology combined with software.
Mr Waddell said there has been an increase in producers who are looking at adopting EID technology into their flock, especially with the new generation of farmers coming through.
“As younger farmers come onto the land, technology has been the focus,” he said.
Mr Waddell said the price of EID technology had been dropping.
At the beginning, Mr Waddell said an EID tag would cost about $3 and now, they’re down to about $1.60.
Mr Waddell said a lot of producers could be choosing to wait five years to see if the price goes down, although he was concerned they’d miss out on the big returns from adopting the technology in that time.
“You have to ask whether the 20 cents is worth saving without being able to make individual decisions,” he said.
Local Land Services (LLS) district veterinarian (DV), Justine McNally said it was looking like processors, such as abattoirs, would eventually want traceability of carcases.
That way, if they were to deduct producers based on a missed specification, they’d be able to give them a specific reason why for each animal.
Dr McNally said traceability was also something consumers had started to look for when purchasing produce.
Having better traceability would allow sheep producers to assure trading partners of the health and quality of individual animals Dr McNally said.
“It provides evidence they’re maintaining quality,” she said.
