Check well before buying EID gear

The information in this section focuses on radio frequency (RFID) forms of electronic identification and is intended to support a farmer’s own research on commercially available products.

Product reliability and the how they integrate with various control systems vary widely.

The benefits of EID include improving work efficiency by reducing the labour required for identifying cows, eliminating human error associated with eartag reading, producing valuable management information and reducing the amount of animal handling.

EID systems can be linked to dairy management software which can collect information from milk metering systems, walk-over weighers, etc, providing ease of management and information for decision making.

Typically there are three elements to the identification system: a transponder (ear tag, leg band, neck pendant, implant or rumen bolus), a reader (transceiver), and a data processing unit (e.g. laptop or handheld).

Most electronic cow identification systems used in New Zealand use radio signals to transfer the information from tag to reader (RFID). These systems have the advantage of being able to work in dirty, dusty and moist environments and do not require line of sight.

Software and databases link EID codes to animals, store that information and enable decision making and data sharing. Data may be managed locally or transferred to third party databases. When linked to management databases, EID can integrate with computerised management systems that can record the information and then use it to carry out many management tasks automatically.

Actions to take:

When buying an EID system make sure you have a list of all the management tasks you want it to link with, and that the complete system is capable of delivering these.

Despite standards, not all tags, readers and software are compatible, unless they have been bought from the same supplier. Check for compatibility before committing to a purchase.

Future-proof any system you buy. Any system being considered needs to be around and fully supported for the foreseeable future.

Make sure any system you are considering buying is compatible with any existing or proposed national identification schemes which use or will use electronic identification.