2006-12-21 04:24:49 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Other - Pets
The simple answer is inventory. RFID tags are non-volitile and not easily removed. This allows the farmer to track his herd completely. Think Mad Cow here. By tracking each animal from birth throughout life, the farmer knows and can verify the pedigree, and in the event of exposure to disease, can then know if the problem is isolated or exposure has spread throughout the herd. Because of things like E. Coli spreading throughout the food chain, regulations have tightened to control exposure to us human type of life who eat the vegetable and animal types of life. Remember the E. Coli outbreak a while back which hit Jack and the Box hamburgers? In that case, undercooked hamburger allowed the spread of E. Coli bacteria and it killed people. By tracking the hamburger, it was possible to locate the source so it could be fixed. RFID wasn't exactly a part of the investigation, but I think you get the idea why they want to track individual cows because of Mad Cow disease..
2006-12-21 05:08:57 · answer #1 · answered by rowlfe 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not from Michigan, but they will be mandatory here in Kansas too, as well as the rest of the nation. The implants will go in the ears of the cattle. Every time the animal leaves one place and goes to the next, the implant will be read by a hand held computer type thing and the info sent to a state agency via cell phone towers, so in case of an outbreak of some kind of bad disease (whether it affects people or animals) the state agency will be able to track where that bovine type critter has been, what it has been eating, what type of vaccines it has had, etc. by getting in contact with the owner at each stage of the critter's life from birth on. It will probably take awhile to iron all the kinks out, but eventually it will become just part of the routine of owning cattle. As an added benefit, because each implant has a unique number that is assigned to the owner of that animal, if someone steals your cattle it will be possible to find them. Horses and other livestock will eventually be required to have the tags too so that they can be tracked as well.
2006-12-24 18:55:38 · answer #2 · answered by cmdynamitefreckles 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the goverment id frantic to be able to trace the cow through her life so thay can find others exposed to the same things that cow was if she came down with some strange disease......
they think this will make it possible (personal insert: ha ha)
2006-12-21 12:30:19 · answer #3 · answered by ragapple 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋