By SHELLY STRAUTZ-SPRINGBORN
Michigan Correspondent

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Farmers can see and learn about the latest state-of-the-art livestock handling chutes and electronic animal identification products during Ag Expo, July 17-19 at Michigan State University.

The Michigan Farm Bureau (MFB) exhibit will serve as the Expo’s animal handling and technology headquarters. Daily demonstrations will show cattlemen how to get the most out of electronic identification ear tags required for their cattle by state law. The event is being presented by MFB, the Michigan Department of Agriculture, MSU Extension and identification tag producer Allflex USA, Inc.

Several livestock handling chutes will be on display and demonstrated with cattle.

“Farmers will be able to see the increased ease of handling cattle in these new chutes,” said Kevin Kirk, special assistant to the director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA). “They provide more protection for the individuals operating them and protect animals from being injured as well.”

On March 1, Michigan became the first state in the nation to make electronic animal identification mandatory for any cattle being transported from one premise to another.

“Last year’s message was to get your animals electronically tagged,” said Ag Expo Demonstration Manager Tim Rogers. “Now we want to show farmers how to utilize this technology to help in their management practices.”

The state law applies to all cattle – including beef and dairy, bulls and calves, steers of any age, oxen and rodeo stock.

Penalties for noncompliance could amount to citations with fines up to $1,000. Untagged cattle are being turned away from sale barns and slaughterhouses. No other species are required to have electronic ear tags.

“Many farmers haven’t tagged their livestock yet because they haven’t had to move them since March 1,” Kirk said. “The demonstrations will be a good opportunity for farmers to learn about these tags and what they’re capable of.”

Representatives from electronic tagging companies also will be on-hand to explain more about tracking products such as Bluetooth-capable stick readers and tag detectors the size of Palm Pilots.
“The potential is there that when you scan the tag with a reader, you’ll instantly have the animal’s health history, weights, birth records, vaccination records and more,” said Dan Buskirk with MSU’s Department of Animal Science. “That all could be done before with pencil and paper, but now it can be done in one step.”

The technology demonstrations will be at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. each day of Ag Expo. Allflex USA, Inc., will give one attendee a radio frequency identification (RFID) livestock tag reader each day.
Michigan lost its federal TB-free status in 2000. In 2005, the United States Department of Agriculture agreed to grant Michigan split-state TB status and recognize the Upper Peninsula as free of the respiratory disease. The designation has allowed the state to concentrate its eradication efforts on the state’s Lower Peninsula, which is currently divided into two zones. The modified accredited TB zone covers nearly all of the Lower Peninsula, excluding 11 counties and portions of two counties in the peninsula’s northern tip where TB has been found. The endemic area is designated as the modified accredited zone.

Currently all animals moving into or out of the TB modified accredited area in Michigan’s upper portion of the Lower Peninsula already must be TB tested and tagged with electronic ear tags. Random TB testing will continue in the modified accredited advanced zone.