Wednesday, January 13, 2010

USDA Approves First UHF RFID Tag for Animal Identification System

The Animal Identification System appears to be moving along according to the government's master plan to tag every single farm animal. The press release below describes the recent USDA approval of the first RFID animal tag.

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USDA approves eTattoo™ as First Official UHF Indentification Device

LEROY, Minn. (December 28, 2009)—Eriginate™ Corporation announced today the approval of its eTattoo™ tag by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The approval marks the first ultra-high radio frequency identification tag (UHF RFID) and the first non-low frequency tag (LF) to be approved for use with the “840” Animal Identification Number (AIN).


“We’re very pleased that the USDA has provided approval for eTattoo™ to be used as an official identification device in USDA’s animal health programs,” says Bob Baarsch, CEO of Eriginate™. “Animal identification plays an important role when animal disease events occur, and we are proud to be able to offer our technology to enrich this effort.”


eTattoo™ is the first and only cattle management system to utilize UHF RFID, operating at 915 MHz. The tag allows users to collect data from individual animals housed in large pens or across groups of pens in a fraction of a second, even while animals are moving. The read range is optimized to allow producers to collect data from either the front or back of the animal at a distance of up to 25 feet using a fixed reader or up to 15 feet using a handheld device.


eTattoo™ is a panel-style tag that incorporates both visual and electronic identification, enabling management information to be printed on the tag and alleviating the need for separate visual and RFID tags. Because of the enhanced performance of the eTattoo™ technology, the tags and readers can be quickly incorporated into existing cattle handling systems without the need for costly infrastructure changes.


Animals that move individually through the production and processing chain can be identified with an official AIN tag or device. Only approved manufacturers are authorized to produce AIN devices, and eTattoo™ is the first UHF RFID ear tag to be authorized as an official AIN device. UHF-RFID is a global standard used throughout the world for asset tracking. The eTattoo™ tag is compatible with all ISO 18000-6C / EPCglobal Gen 2 readers and equipment.


eTattoo™ tags and readers are available exclusively from Eriginate™ Corporation. For more information on eTattoo™ and to order a kit or tags, call Eriginate™ customer service at (507) 344-8005


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Additional Reading:


1.
Wisconsin Judge Orders Beef Rancher to Register Premises Under State's Livestock Premises Registration Law


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