Cattle producers to lose age verification incentive

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

© AgMedia Inc.

by TREENA HEIN

Farmers used to receiving a $5 per calf incentive for age verification will instead have to shell out $3 per animal to continue the practice next year.

Despite the loss of the incentive, producers who attended the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association annual meeting in February voted in support of making age verification mandatory in future.

Launched in 2005 as a voluntary program intended to help producers gain an edge in international markets, age verification has had a tough time snagging producers’ interest, despite the incentive.

To date, 1,380 Ontario producers, about 35 per cent of the province’s beef farmers, have practiced age verification, using tags and submitting related information to the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency.  

Peter Kerrigan, president of the Lambton Cattlemen’s Association, says the low participation rate may be due to a perception among producers that their work mainly benefits someone else, such as an exporter. Many beef farms may lack the infrastructure (shoots etc.) and labour required to do the tagging, he adds.
 
Ron Wooddisse, who coordinates the provincial association’s incentive program, says it’s wrapping up because “funding will run out at the end of the year, as we predicted it would.” Funding came in 2004 from a $4 million provincial grant. The grant also funded marketing initiatives and a program to introduce tag readers at feed lots, sale barns, slaughterhouses and other locations.

The incentive pays $5 for 2008 and 2009 calves to compensate beef producers for both the tag, which costs about $3, and time spent tagging animals and keeping records.

However, even if incentives will no longer be available, the association encourages beef farmers to continue to age verify for many important reasons.

Canada’s international trading partners now request birth date information as a prerequisite for export, Wooddisse notes. Japan for example, will only accept beef from animals under 21 months of age.

Age verification also helps producers realise they can get their animals to market faster, he says. “Once you are aware of exactly how old your calves are, you can make different management decisions based on having that information.”

Food safety is another important reason to age verify. “It’s pretty clear that an animal that went to slaughter in 15 months had no problems,” says Wooddisse, “but what happened to the animal that is 30 months? What happened to that animal that it was basically shelved for a year?”

Producers who wish to continue age verification can do it themselves by logging in to the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency website. Some tag suppliers provide free age verification services, says Wooddisse. However, the tag ownership must first be registered to producers with the agency.

Making age verification mandatory has also been considered in Alberta, and many believe it’s inevitable across the country.

“As with any mandatory regulation,” Kerrigan says, “if the benefits are clear, it’ll go over better. BF