Radio Frequency ID Project

This cooperative agreement aligns with USDA goal #4 (objective 4.4): Protect agricultural health by minimizing major diseases and pests to ensure access to safe, plentiful, and nutritious food; and APHIS goal #6: Protect the health of U.S. agricultural resources, including addressing zoonotic disease issues and incidences, by implementing surveillance, preparedness and response, and control programs; Objective 6.2: Ensure effective preparedness and response systems. RFID Project Purpose: To increase the accuracy, efficiency, and cost effectiveness of collecting animal identification, movement information, and animal disease program records, while supporting the cattle industry’s management and marketing needs. RFID Project Objective: The selected projects will document the capability of UHF backtags correlated with other Official identification devices for the collection of animal movement and disease program data without unduly impacting business operations (i.e., “the speed of commerce”), with an overall objective of supporting and improving disease traceability practices. For example: processes that correlate the UHF back tag with other ID such as LF RFID and/or visual identification where UHF readers are used to accommodate high volume facilities.