Case analysis of the application of radio frequency identification technology in animal husbandry and animal management

In the past 10 years or so, animal epidemics have continued to break out around the world, which has severely affected the animal husbandry industry around the world, especially in Europe. It has attracted great attention from countries around the world, especially in Europe, and prompted governments to quickly formulate policies and take various measures. measure. To this end, countries around the world have strengthened the management of animals in animal husbandry and commerce, and the identification and tracking of animals has become one of the major measures taken by countries. For example, the British government stipulates that various tracking and identification methods must be adopted for cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, horses and other farmed animals.

1. Identification and tracking of animals

Animal identification and tracking refers to a technology that uses specific tags to correspond to the animals to be identified by some technical means, and can track and manage the relevant attributes of the animals at any time.

The identification and tracking of various animals can strengthen the control and supervision of exotic animal diseases, protect the safety of native species and ensure the safety of international trade of livestock products; it can strengthen the government's vaccination and disease prevention management of animals, and improve the safety of animals. Disease diagnosis and reporting capabilities, as well as emergency response to domestic and foreign animal epidemics. Therefore, the identification and tracking management of animals is not only a need for animal husbandry, but also a national government behavior and an international behavior. The following introduces the identification and tracking of cattle, pigs and sheep respectively.

Cattle identification and tracking

At present, a cattle tracking system has been established in Europe. In September 1998, the UK announced plans for a cattle tracking system. At the end of 1999, all member states of the European Community implemented this system plan.

The British government stipulates that cattle born or imported after July 1, 2000 must be numerically identified. Cattle identification and registration includes aspects such as identification, farm records and licenses. The identification tag must be installed within 20 days after the cow is born. The identification tag has the identification code of the cow. This identification code will accompany the cow throughout its life. The farm records contain all the circumstances surrounding the birth, importation, movement and death of each cow. Each cow has a CTS license, which Stores the entire record of the cow's life. CTS is a computerized system for tracking and managing cattle established in the UK, with the UK government paying for its establishment and initial use.

Pig identification and tracking

From November 1, 2003, the UK began to implement new pig identification standards. The new standards provide different identification provisions for all pigs under + years old sent directly to the slaughterhouse and for pigs over one year old sent to any other destination.

Identification and tracking of sheep

From January 1, 2008, European regulations have made electronic identification of sheep mandatory. In order to verify the working performance of the electronic identification system, Delta will start conducting real-time electronic identification and digital transmission tests in a real environment in March 2004. Farmers, ranches and slaughterhouses will choose different electronic identification systems. This test plan ended in March 2005, and the report was submitted in June of the same year.

In addition, the British government also stipulated that starting from June 30, 2004, all horses must be identified and tracked.

At present, widely used animal identification methods include: ear tags, back tags, necklaces, tail tags, freeze marks, tattoos, paint tags and leg tags, etc. The practice of animal electronic identification in recent years shows that radio frequency identification (Radio Frequency Identification, RFID) among electronic identification methods plays an increasingly important role in animal management.

2. Radio frequency identification RFID technology

Radio frequency identification is a non-contact automatic identification technology. It has the characteristics of large data storage capacity, readability and writing, strong penetration, long reading and writing distance, fast reading rate, long service life, and good environmental adaptability. And it is the only automatic recognition technology that can achieve multi-target recognition.

RFID consists of a reader and an electronic tag. Attach an electronic tag to the surface or interior of an identified object (such as an animal). When the identified object (such as an animal) enters the recognition range of the reader, the reader automatically reads the object in the electronic tag (such as an animal) in a non-contact manner. identification data of animals), thereby realizing the function of automatically identifying objects (such as animals) or automatically collecting information data of objects (such as animals).

(1) Reader

The RFID Reader consists of control system, communication interface, microstrip antenna and power supply modules. Handheld reader (HR) is one type of reader. It is suitable for handheld use by mobile users. Its working principle is exactly the same as other readers. In addition to the modules that general readers have, it can also be equipped with LCD keyboard and barcode scanning modules. The communication interface of HR is optional 802.11 and RS323. HR's power supply voltage is powered by a rechargeable battery; the operating system can be WinCE or other operating systems; data storage is 32MB flash memory, 32MB memory; the antenna is a built-in antenna or probe detector.

(2) Electronic tags

The electronic tag is composed of data storage, data processing, communication interface, microstrip antenna and power supply modules. The electronic tag writes the ID code and information about the item. Electronic tags are divided into passive electronic tags and active electronic tags according to different power supply forms. The power supply of passive electronic tags is obtained from the radio frequency signal emitted by the reader, so the reader must have higher transmission power and a shorter identification distance. Active electronic tags rely on their own micro-battery for power supply, so they have lower transmit power requirements for readers and the system has a longer recognition distance. Compared with active electronic tags, passive electronic tags have the advantages of low cost, no maintenance, high reliability and long life. In the identification and tracking of animals, except for special scientific research that uses active electronic tags, most of them use passive electronic tags.