Handling EID

Electronic Identification (EID) is the term used to identify livestock using ISO 11784 or ISO 11785 compliant microchips. EID has been around for a long time in the form of clothing and department store tags, even passports now use a similar technology. EID works using a Radio Frequency Identification chip (RFID) embedded within the casement of the animal ear tag or bolus. These small microchips are no larger than a map pin, and work by receiving power from a magentic field, generated by an RFID antenna. When charged, they emit a 'ping' rather like the sonar you see and hear on submarine movies.

How it works...

The animal wearing the ear tag passes through an electronic field (generated by the antenna) which charges up the chip and fires out a radio freqnecy number. The number is the animal identification number and will have been hard coded into the chip.

To read the number, there needs to be a software applciation that is expecting the tag number to be transmitted. This number may be transmitted in either a decimal or hexadecimal format. Different manufacturers will pogram their equipment to use one or either format. When purchasing EID equipment such as stick or panel readers, it's always useful to confirm which format the equipment will use, and to check whether your software is compatible with the format used.

FarmAware Mobile can use either decimal or hexadecimal format and can be configured using the system configuration screen to use whichever is prefered. It is worth noting, that the Hexadeciaml format may display a number that isn't recognised by human eye, whereas the decimal version is easily recognisable and should correspond to the UK format ear tag.

What can I do with an EID tag that I can't do with a normal tag?

Well, the answer is easy - EID gives you the ability to recognise animals quickly and easily using a variety of computer equipment. It's a combination of technology and livestock management that makes the farm efficient and faster to operate. Not too long in the past, farmers would make important animal husbandry and farming decisions based on how the animal looked and performed in the field. Now, using EID technology, the farmer can select animals based on their fitness, ability to achieve weight and performance using actual figures and collected data. Farming has become more efficient, faster and more accurate.