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    "A" forms

    Anyone tried to remove cattle from an auction since the new "A" forms came in? I did yesterday and was rather surprised at the development.
    Works like this - go to office and pay for your purchases, get usual invoice and load out slip duplicate copy. Go to load cattle and be told you also need an "A" form, go to brand inspectors office, present invoice so they can create and print off 2 "A forms". Go back to loading bay present one to market worker, load cattle and take the other form home.
    Now what information does the "A form" contain?? basically it would be the same as a manifest that you filled in to haul cattle home from an auction except the brand inspector has a copy of it. A rather pointless exercise in my opinion as it doesn't show which lot # you bought at auction, which farm they came from but more importantly there is no cattle ID info - no CCIA tag numbers.
    Yes, congratulations we have just created the same stupid paper system they use in Europe. Despite every animal having an EID in it's ear we choose not to utilize these to properly track animal movement. What the h@#% were they thinking?
    I've said it before and I'll say it again there was a perfectly good system demonstrated in Europe in 1995 that would read cattle EID numbers in and out of the auctions and with the computer software to tie this to seller of the cattle and buyer of the cattle they had every animal tracked from home to auction to final destination. It was simple, instant and there was no paperwork involved - unfortunately they were too cheap to install the system in Europe and it seems the same is the case in Alberta. This is a big failure in my mind - these "A forms" are a pain in the a@# and they achieve nothing. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

    #2
    Haven't experienced this yet. Sounds like someone with an "A" type personality came up with it. Common sense does not prevail in this industry.

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      #3
      Maybe they will pay to automate the system with the second half (sorry, second 1/4) of the money that was supposed to be paid out in January.
      I think that failure to automate is going to be one of the biggest mistakes in terms of trying to get value out of the stuff we are being legislated to do. Sure there is an upfront cost, but RFID could be a powerful tool. Imagine even getting individual weaning weights in an excel file from an auction market, or actually applying some of the carcass data that is out there.

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        #4
        I had rather hoped the discussion on market reading of CCIA tags was still open. This is a very poor attempt at a workable traceability system.

        Comment


          #5
          Hmm...
          The largest packer is also the largest auction company...
          and the largest lender on cows...
          and one of the largest feeders...
          I think the discussion was closed a long time ago.

          Comment


            #6
            I don't know the blame necessarily lies with them this time Sean. Being big operators in all the fields you mention they would have a lot to benefit from having an effortless electronic system versus a stupid paper one. I advocated for a long time that we should be pushing for a proper computerized system tied to the EID tags read at auction - and that the Government should foot the bill.In the grand scheme of ALMA and all it would not have been a huge expense.
            Perhaps if it had not been laughed off by ABP ".....we don't need a traceability system.... we don't like mandatory... blah blah blah" and they had actually provided some leadership on the issue - in combination with the auction marts we might have got a better outcome. This smacks more to me of Government beaurocrats making up the rules because they were getting no guidance from industry (producers, auctions etc)rather than having their ears bent by Nilssons.

            Comment


              #7
              I see that GF, but that said a proprietary system used by your own company (rather than an industry system) would surely be more profitable.
              I think the blame lies with all of us and especially the AB Gov.

              Comment

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