New Technology

Thursday, February 18, 2010
4-H beef superintendent Karl Gillette, right, works the beef tagging and weigh-in Saturday at the fairgrounds. Assisting is fellow beef volunteer Keith Smith. Volunteers tagged 117 steers and crossbred heifers this year, compared to 114 in 2009. Purebred heifers have registration papers and tattoos and participate in this process. This is the first year Putnam County's beef program has used electronic tags that use radio frequency data in addition to the standard visual tag. For the past six or seven years, the county used retinal imaging machines to identify these animals through pictures of the retina. Prior to that, ink was used and the cattle were nose printed. The electronic tags were very simple and helped to speed the process compared to these other processes used in the past, helping to make for smooth day.

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