The Rural Voice, 2001-02, Page 42AgriTech
Tracking system aids management
By Janice Becker
After months of relative quiet, sto-
ries of Mad Cow disease infecting the
world's herds once again hit the news
'n mid-January'when the first case
was discovered in Italy.
The North American market has
to- date been relatively unscathed by
this disease which not only destroys
the livelihood of those whose herd is
infected but devastates the industry
and in some cases, has reportedly
killed consumers of the product.
So when I went leafing through
my files looking for interesting mate-
rial for this month's column, one
package caught my attention. It was
from an Edmonton -based technology
company that had launched an on-
line asset management system for
beef producers.
Designed, at this time, for North
American producers with plans to
expand to South America and
Europe, Viewtrak Technologies Inc.
has developed a herd tracking system
which does not require the purchase
of more software or reading of tech-
nical manuals.
Though only able to check it out
through the product tour button
because I am not a registered user,
there is valuable information provid-
ed about the company, what they are
offering and the benefits of tracing
individual animals more closely.
Each animal is registered at birth
with information such as weight, sex,
breed and parentage.
The Canadian Cattle
Identification
Agency tag number,
implemented as of
Jan. 1, 2001, is the
key to the tracking
system.
(Viewtrak sug-
gests that the use of
the tracking system wi I give produc-
ers an opportunity to benefit from
their investment in CCIA.)
With extensive measures taken to
ensure security, producers are then
able to add, edit or delete information
for individual animals as they
progress through their development.
Though viewtrak was available
only to producers at the launch last
On-line
service
uses CCIA
tag
numbers
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38 THE RURAL VOICE
fall, it was soon to be ready for feed-
ers, finishers, packers and retailers.
It is expected that this technology
will be able to track an animal from
the farm of origin, through the pro-
duction cycle to the consumer by use
of the CCIA number and Viewtrak.
A cost benefit can be realized
through the use of report generation
which cross-references the animal's
estimated weight gain per day and
projected market day with market
trends and pricing. By inputting vari-
ous weight gains with different feed-
ing regiments and altered market
days, producers can determine the
optimal program for each animal.
Viewtrak suggests the streamlin-
ing of production costs could boost
earnings by as much as $80 to $120
per head.
Links are also provided for finan-
cial information centres and com-
modity markets. The resource centre
connects web viewers to a good list
of government and industry organiza-
tions, in Canada and the United
States, which are associated with beef
producers interests.
Surfers can check out auction
yards in British Columbia, Alberta,
Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario
as well as the Canadian Satellite auc-
tion.
Though live links are not available
to all those listed, I checked out a
couple Ontario sales yards through
the Ontario Cattlemen's Association.
Easy prints outs of the most recent
market prices allow for quick com-
parisons across the region.
Some sites also offer historic pric-
ing so trends over the past few
months can be watched.
The price of membership in
Viewtrak.com is $99 which allows
for an unlimited number of animals to
be registered at $1.50 per head.
The website, found at www.
viewtrak.com, is easy to use with an
on-line registration form. Member-
ship can also be attained by phoning
1-866-456-2207 or emailing
register@viewtrak.com.
Contact me at becker@wcl.on.ca
or through The Rural Voice office.0
Janice Becker is a computer enthusiast
and journalist living near Walton, ON.