Ear implants can backtrack diseased cattle

However hard it hits the cattle owner to learn that there is unsuspected disease in their herd, it is to their advantage to know of it as soon as possible to prevent its further spread, as well as taking measures to eradicate the trouble where possible.

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Since an unhappy position may come about only after the despatch of carcasses to the meat packing plant (when inspectors find they have to condemn some because of disease), clearly it is to the benefit of the farmer whose cattle are involved that he should be informed immediately. It may also be necessary to locate animals that may have been exposed to the disease between the farm and the packing plant.

But could current methods of backtracking diseased carcasses be made more efficient? This is what livestock identifying specialist W Hooven, at Beltsville in the US, has sought to answer in recent tests.

At the US Meat Animal Research Centre in Clay Centre, Nebraska, Hooven used a special ear implant on 100 HerefordCharolais crossbred cattle in August 1968. Each ear implant, or marker, although small, can carry up to 20 letters and numbers. Reports Hooven: "This permits a widely adaptable coding system for identifying an animal according to year of birth, herd, country, state and so on, without duplicating any numbers or letters."