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USDA OKs ultra-high radio frequency livestock tags

By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent

LEROY, Minn. — Eriginate Corp. announced the approval of its e Tattoo tag by the USDA. It is the first ultra-high radio frequency identification tag (UHF RFID) and the first non-low frequency tag (LF) to be approved by USDA for use with the “840” Animal Identification Number (AIN).

An RFID is an antenna with a small chip on it said Bob Baarsch, CEO of Eriginate. When it is “read” or scanned, and it receives enough energy from the radio waves it sends the number back to the reader. While RFIDs might not seem familiar, they are used on auto keys – the little plastic tab on the neck of the key is an RFID. They are in the scanners used in stores such as Walmart.

“This is the next generation of technology that will replace bar coding,” Baarsch said. “It is going to replace it in higher value assets first because it is more expensive, but it can store more information.”

The RFID will hold information such as the animal’s birthdate, sex, and some of the animal’s health history, Baarsch said.
“It is very thin,” he said. “You can put it on a dangle tag and it looks almost the same, but it has a two-inch antenna in there and with a handheld reader we can read it up to 10 to 15 feet, and with a fixed reader we might be able to read it out to 25 to 30 feet away.”

The eTattoo tag, which incorporates both visual and electronic identification, allows users to collect data from individual animals housed in large pens or across groups of pens in a fraction of a second, even while the animals are moving. The read range is optimized to allow producers to collect data from either the front or back of the animal at a distance of up to 25 feet using a fixed reader or up to 15 feet using a handheld device.

“We can take a whole alley full of cattle, run them under our scanners, they can be 12 feet above the animals so the cowboys can run under them, and they can read and identify all of those cattle as fast as you can run them through that 12 foot alley,” Baarsch said. “You interface it with a computer with a data base. It can reside on the reader itself or it can be hooked to a PC and reside on that.”

In the past only low frequency RFIDs were allowed or accepted in the animal world by any government, Baarsch said. The RFID is two or three generation’s newer technology than the low frequency because of its ability to read farther, faster, quicker, and the tags can contain more information.

“It could go to a USDA tag or non-USDA tag,” Baarsch said. “Some farmers or ranchers may want to just track animals and load it into production software where they’re recording the genetics and lineage.”

USDA approval for the device took more than a year, Baarsch said. The quality of the tag and that it would stay in the animal’s ear had to be evaluated. The tag had to have certain optical and printing features. Baarsch’s company had to be a member of an international data base. When the tag is issued that number is recorded and that data is held in a national data base for tracking reasons.

840 devices use a standardized 15-digit numbering system. The resulting number is the AIN. The number 840 is the U.S. country code and appears at the beginning of all AINs issued in this country. The final 15 digits make up the nationally unique ID number assigned to the animal.

“There is quite a bit to it other than just the quality of the tag itself,” Baarsch said.

The tags cost $3.95 each. Tag readers vary in price from $2,000 to $4,500. For more information visit www.eriginate.com or www.etattootag.com or call 785-694-3468.

1/27/2010