No ordinary ear tags

Ellanie Smit
  • 3 Weeks Ago
The individual identification of livestock is an internationally prescribed and recognised method for tracing of animals as a means of providing food chain information in international trade of livestock products.

This is according to the Dr Anja Boshoff-De Witt, the meat standards executive at the Livestock and Livestock Products Board (LLPB) of Namibia.

“Understandably, such devices used for the individual identification of livestock should comply with a number of specifications and standards in order to qualify as an internationally recognised device, providing a sufficient level of confidence and integrity.”

Boshoff-De Witt said the LLPB was appointed by the agriculture ministry for the distribution of approved identification devices for the individual identification of livestock in Namibia.

The identification device approved by the directorate of veterinary services is a combined radio frequency identification (RFID) and visual ear tag.

Boshoff-De Witt explained that the selection of a supplier is done via a detailed tender process and that during this process, compliance with Namibian specifications, International Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR) and International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) standards are verified.

“The price for the supply of these ear tags is also considered during the tender process to determine the impact on producers.”

However, she noted that price is only considered once the compliance of the ear tag is verified.

The supplier selected during the latest tender process for the supply of ear tags for individual identification of cattle in Namibia was DATAMARS, an internationally renowned company, accredited by Australia and Botswana, among other countries.

Boshoff-De Witt said during a previous period of use of DATAMARS ear tags, field samples collected indicated that dust caused abrasion of the anti-fraud locking system in field conditions in Namibia.

As a result, DATAMARS started a project in 2018 to reduce the effects of abrasion.

The effect of rotating tags in a dusty environment was replicated in the laboratory using the previous design tags.

“Consequently, one design and one material modification were developed and tested in the same setup.”

Boshoff-De Witt said the modification led to a 10 times higher resistance against abrasion. These modifications were included in mass production of tags since 2022.