Discussion on using Brisket Tags for animal ID on the Cow-herd?

[SADIE]

Last sentence

GET THE APPARATUS OF ID OFF THE EAR OF THE BOVINE ANIMAL (ANY ANIMAL)

[DogPatch]

Sadie......... In the hands of a competent user like a vet they are necessary tools of the trade. Those instruments you mentioned, likely were made to make a job easier, and less stressful. I only mentioned the PETA idiots because in the minds of the uneducated, they cause trouble to our industry.

What really is the purpose though of spaying heifers? Other than to remove the cycling process without the use of hormones and feed additives?

[SADIE]

<a href="http://s1138.photobucket.com/albums/n523/kphaber/?action=view&current=2012-07-01190630_zps47bc5900.jpg" target="_blank"></a>

The High Hog chute is 8 ft long. I had a welder weld a steel ring on the end of this 14 ft 2" X2" tubing (I think).

This tube can be placed through two large tubing brackets and a Bolt screws down to secure this tube in place. IT can be totally removed.

The Halter and then the Nose tongs stretched forward gives me a safe confortable position down front where the dewlap of the animal is at the front of the chute.

[SADIE]

Dog patch

History of Spaying heifers? During the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s this was a situation allowing operators to run yearling heifers on grasslands. Some producers ran large groups of heifers bought at auction markets to be turned on grass because of the about 10cent spread of heifers to the steers. These heifers were not the replacement quality animals.

Some producers would spay 50 heifers and run them with their cow-calf operation (with bulls).

In some jurisdictions it was "law" that you had to either have bulls with your females or have animals spayed because of the problems of large groups of females on grass next to another pasture where the operator was running bulls with his cow-herd.

1970s the ranchers were doing their own spaying. It was a flank approach and a incision was done (left flank) same as doing a C-Sec. (smaller incision) that an arm can be reached into the abdomen and with a long pair of scissors the overaries where located and "snipped" off and pulled out and removed.

The animal was stitched up using just the "Vetefill" suture closing up the outer skill layer. A "blast of Long acting penicillin" was applied and the animal was turned out to grass.

The key is doing this approach was to keep the heifers off feed and water for 24-36 hours. Application of "freezing" was not done because the local nerve block caused more animal reaction than the small incision and an arm put through the tissue layers into the abdomen.

Spring time. Producers would want 300 head done, 500 head done. It was time consuming and the best output was about 100 hd per day. As a vet that meant working on a ranch when it was also calving time and "what about those showing up in your clinic" with calving problems??

1980s--The Kimberley Rupp spay tool which was a long tube-like tool was developed (Vets with those last names). There was about 3 of us in Alberta that purchased one of these and had clients that wanted us to learn this technigue. One arm in the rectum (like Preg checking) and the other hand uses this instrument through the vagina wall and both overaries could be mannoved into this tube and with a rotation of "one tube" in the other the ovaries were cut off and removed. This looked very much neater. Antibiotics were also given at the time. Less time consuming because of "O" stitching.

I taught a few graduate vets who wanted to learn the process.

The 1990s there were still requests in the spring to spay heifers. Some "big shot" producers tried to phone and chisel on the price---(Wrong thing to do with me). It is hard work and hard on the human body. When I sold the practice I made sure I sold the instrument (approx. $1000.00) with many "Brazing repairs to it).

3)OVARIAN DROP TECHNIGUE. This instrument was developed that would be the same One are in the rectum and the second arm puts this instrument through the vagina wall and the ovaries are put in a (open hole of the instrument) were just cut off and ovariaries were dropped into the abdomen.

Both proceedures were quite common in the 80s and 90s. My brother (Also large animal veterinarian) working with pharmaceutical companies and now resides in Colorado took this proceedures over to Australia, did research papers and got several Australian Veterinarians equipped to do this on the large ranches in the Australian Cattle stations.

Running Spayed heifers on grass and then selling yearlings in the fall appeared to be what some Feedlots wanted. Heifers with "0" pregnancies to deal with.

This practice is not being done much today!!!

I am asking agrivillers? What is being used today? I would like to know?

1)Producers able to use feed additives to suppress cycling on grass.

2)Lack of veterinary operators to do this work. Undesireable work. Body breaking.

[grassfarmer]

All the big story about your brisket tags doesn't take
the cattle industry one step forward as far as I can
see. Maybe you prefer them for your on farm records
identifying cattle and that is your choice.
They don't have EID capacity and even if they decide
to install chips in these tags they would be useless to
read in an auction market setting. How would a
scanner ever get close to them without being blocked
by other animals?
So as far as a traceability system (where we actually
can follow an animal from birth to slaughter including
knowing where it has been all its life) they have no
roll.

[SADIE]

Summary (Synopsis)---

Back in early 2011, After the Western Association of Bovine Practitioners conference in January some large animal vets who have been long time in this industry came forward with this discussion.

The constant Re-tagging the bovine ear because of all the purposes Animal herd ID, Fly tag and now the regulatory RFID tag.

This application has created a new "Monster" of an animal going into these chutes for processing. Animal behavior is well recognized from many vets in this conversation. It is documented and recorded. The bellering that goes on to some as another tag is applied to cow or bull. The flipovers, The ripped ears ----all of this is on record.

OK---Now lets go a step further and we are almost there now. The general public picks up on this and/or peda or anther cattlemen gets levied a charge on RFID eartag that wants to take his/her defence to the Canadian Agriculture Tribunal.

This is the ideal time to bring this information to the media, to the court-room to go on record.

Now ----what happens if "God forbid" because of this and the outcry from the public or peda groups about applying any eartag.

Where is the cattlemen at now. The eartag has and was originally used for bangs and TB testing in the 60s (Metal Ketchum Curlock) and then herd management ID.

The cattlemen would loose the Herd aspect of the ID also. That would be a huge blow to the management of the herd.

We have had heavy discussions with CFIA veterinarians that somehow,somewhere to go forward we have to get off the ear of the animal.

Good thing I re-looked again to the brisket tag for my operation. I did not like the boc-lock tag because it hangs down and trouble with the nos going long term.

Life of the Cow brisket tag---I am glad I have attempted to apply these. I will follow and report the retention going forward but there is a chance it will work for me.

Maybe the future is the Brisket Tag and the branding iron only.

I have written this before on agriville.

"BYE BYE RFID EARTAG"

Soon Soon.