Beginning January 1, 2015, Holstein Association USA Inc. (HAUSA) will be fully transitioned to official 840 ear tags. Given USDA’s Animal Disease Traceability (ADT) rule for animal movement beginning March 1, 2015, we felt it was appropriate to take this proactive step.
After the March 1 deadline, all USDA official ear tags distributed must bear either the 840 number or the USDA metal tag number series. Animals previously tagged with an older style number (such as American ID numbers) will not need to be retagged to cross state borders – they are grandfathered in. Any Holstein ID tags printed with American ID numbers you have left in inventory can also be used.
Before ordering 840 ear tags for the first time, it is important to acquire your farm’s premises ID from your state department of agriculture. We will keep it on file at HAUSA for future orders. Within the ADT plan, this helps determine an animal’s premises of origin.
For Holsteins registered with the Tag ID method, the 840 number will be the animal’s registration number. In the 840 number, the 840 is actually the country code for the United States. If you are familiar with the system used in Canada, think of “840” in place of “124.” The goal is to have a “one number, one animal” system for each animal’s lifetime.
Official 840 tags are marked with the USDA shield and the statement “Unlawful to remove.” Because of this, space on the tags is limited, so the official tags are not available with customized information, except for your herd management number. You can still select your herd management number, in the standard print size, on all official tags. Each animal only needs one official tag, so if you are using two or three tags total today, you will need to choose an inventory tag put in at birth as your official one.
HAUSA offers both visual and electronic options for 840 tags. The 840 Radio Frequency ID (RFID) tag is becoming more commonplace, and we envision this as the end goal in the U.S. animal disease traceability program. World Dairy Expo has made great strides in suggesting all U.S. animals should have an official 840 RFID for health check-in at the show. We expect more shows to follow suit in the future. The RFID technology can even be integrated into milking parlors, calf feeders, and on-farm herd management software.
If you aren’t ready to go with the RFID option, we have official 840 visual-only tags. Maxi, Large, Junior and Mini-Round official 840 inventory tags are available in all colors we offer today. Here again, only one tag needs to be official – accompanying visual tags will have the same official 840 number but not the USDA notations. We will be offering nested combinations of the most popular tag sizes.
A common question is how to order replacement tags. In an ideal world, we want to be able to replace tags with the same number the animal had from the beginning. Since the tag manufacturer now controls the numbers assigned, some systematic changes need to be made. We hope to make this possible in early 2015.
As always with Holstein ID tags, we want to stress the importance of making sure you always have plenty of 840 inventory tags on hand. Turnaround time for tags ordered continues to be two weeks from the time you place the order to arrival at the farm.
We are taking steps closer to having a comprehensive animal tracking system in the United States. It has been years in the making to get this far. Holstein Association USA and the dairy industry continue to be leaders and we look forward to helping you meet your animal identification needs.
For more information, contact Customer Service at 800.952.5200.
