FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 21, 2006

Alberta’s Minister of Agriculture Visits Allflex Multi-Lane in Fort Macleod

(Ft. Macleod, Alberta, Canada) The Alberta Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Doug Horner, along with invited cattlemen and industry representatives attended a special demonstration of the Allflex multi-lane radio frequency identification (RFID) reader system for tracking beef cattle at the Fort Macleod Auction in Fort Macleod, Alberta.

John Basarab, Ph.D., research scientist with Alberta Agriculture Food and Rural Development and leading author of two multi-panel RFID reader studies, informed attendees of the agency’s objectives in performing research with these types of systems. According to Basarab, the research team evaluated two multi-antenna reader systems. The first phase took place in a controlled environment and then viable systems were selected for second phase testing in a commercial auction market environment. Based on this research, the Allflex system was the only one deemed ready for commercialization.

“The industry needs a system that can handle a rapid flow of cattle in an alley-way situation and have a very high success rate – near 100 percent – in terms of scanning and reading the electronic ear tags,” Basarab said.  “We have very large volumes of cattle coming through auction markets and systems need to move at the speed of their operations.”

Basarab announced that the first phase of the research found the Allflex multi-lane RFID reader system achieved an average of 98.47 percent readability for CCIA Approved, International Organization for Standardization (ISO) electronic identification tags in cattle moving through typical auction market lanes. In addition, the Allflex High Performance or HDX tag captured a 99.87 percent read rate.

Rick Frederickson, Manager of Traceability Initiatives, Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, said the department is working with the industry to promote traceability in all sectors of agriculture and in particular, age verification of cattle.

“Watching a demonstration of the multi-lane RFID panel reader provided a great opportunity to see the technology working in a commercial environment," Frederickson said. “Our department supports the investigation of the technology that will enable the industry to move forward and further enhance our food safety systems.”

Ken Hurlburt, an auctioneer and former owner of Fort Macleod Auction, in Fort Macleod, Alberta, said that ranches, feedlot operations, and markets must work together to search for methods that will benefit the industry.

“The multi-lane is a step forward,” Hurlburt said. “We’ve got to congratulate people for having faith in the future and those that are prepared to invest money. If we want to stay ahead of our competitors, we better look to adopting practices that allow us to provide a better service to the industry.”

Contact John Basarb, Ph.D. for a copy of the RFID reader studies at john.basarab@gov.ab.ca. For more information about Allflex, please call (800) 989-8247 or visit www.allflexusa.com.