All imported cattle must be retagged with RFID tags.
Remember when the price of beef was just pennies? What if an imported animal, which turned out to be carrying a serious disease, is mistakenly identified as Canadian? What would that do to the price of beef, our Canadian market and the economy?
How could this happen? Easily. It has the chance of happening every day when imported cows are not retagged and registered as imports. If an imported cow brings a disease into Canada and is not recorded as an imported animal, it is considered Canadian by default. This would once again shut down the borders to trade.
Is it worth the risk? All imported cattle must be retagged with RFID tags alongside their import tags and registered as imported. Traceability is extremely important to maintaining our border and trade markets. Do your part. The CFIA fine for not properly tagging an imported animal is a minimum of $1300 and increases with each subsequent violation!!
In addition, tags from deceased animals must have the tag “retired”. Dead stock operators are responsible to retire all tags on animals picked up by them. Producers that are disposing of animals on farm are responsible to retire the CCIA tags. This is especially important in composting. Retiring tags properly can assist the farmer in decreasing the time spent “tracing back” animals in the event of a disease outbreak. The tag itself does not need to be removed, but must be documented as retired on the Canadian Livestock Tracking System (CLTS) system.
The CFIA fine for not properly retiring a tag from a deceased animal is a minimum of $1300 and increases with each subsequent violation!!
For more information contact: 1-877-909-2333 CCIA, or www.canadaid.ca
