Implementation of a system based on electronic identification for the official milk recording of dairy goats in Catalonia

摘要

A system based on the utilisation of passive radio frequency transponders was developed in 1995 for electronic identification and official milk recording (AC method) of dairy goats of the Catalonian Dairy Goat Farmers Association (ARCC). Since thisdate, a total of 2,117 dairy goats in 9 farms, tagged with visual ear-tags or collars, have been subcutaneously injected in the left armpit with 2,160 glass encapsulated passive transponders (HDX methodology, 32X3.8mm) after parturition. Goats were checked for loss, failure and breakage of transponders at 1 wk after injection and at each monthly milk recording, during three years. Farmers were equipped with a simple HDX portable transceiver in order to identify the goats that had lost the lags and to recover injected transponders in culled animals. A portable intelligent HDX transceiver was used in the milking parlour for identification and milk yield recording. An individual sample for milk composition was also taken at recording. After milking, the transceiver was connected to a portable computer equipped with a printer and a hard copy of the file containing the individual yield was given to the farmer. Data collected in the farm was then transferred to the central computer of the ARCC, and data ofmilk yield and composition were used to calculate the lactation yields. Total losses or breakage during the three years were lower than 2 percent for transponders and higher than 20 percent for conventional tags. The system proved to be quicker and cheaper for milk recording than the manual system based on conventional tags, and it was preferred both by controllers and farmers. Total errors and incomplete lactation also proved to be significantly lower with the new system.