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November 21, 2011 - The benefits of BIXS cattle
Now that the Beef InfoXchange System (BIXS) has launched to cow-calf producers nationwide, it's only a matter of time before BIXS-registered cattle come to market. BIXS cattle arriving from a farm or ranch cow-calf operation to an auction market offer buyers a number of solid benefits and opportunities. These perks include the ability to link the animal and carcass information to support branded beef programs including producer, retailer, packer and regional brands.
BIXS-registered cattle come with tangible benefits like birthdates, which are registered as an actual birthdate or as a calving start date. These birthdates have been validated as age verified with the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency (CCIA) – Canadian Livestock Tracking System (CLTS), providing an extra level of assurance that buyers of age verified animals are getting what they pay for.
As an optional program, BIXS participants can indicate whether they are trained and/or registered on the Verified Beef Production (VBP) On-Farm Food Safety program. This status of the originating farm or ranch can be associated with BIXS-registered animals.
BIXS-registered cattle can come with optional data including vaccination specifics such as vaccine brand name; date of administration; booster date; and whether the animal is on a commercial vaccination program. Other information may include the date and method of castration and dehorning; weaning date and weights, specific information on breed/cross; dam and sire information; pre-marketing feeding program and whether the animal is bunk broke and to what feed; and herd mineral program specifics. Information on whether the animal has had growth promotants or antibiotics and other optional input information may also be available. In time, detailed carcass data on an animal basis will be available.
Through this information, a BIXS-registered animal can tell a story about the herd health, genetics and production management protocols of the BIXS-registered cow-calf producer that brought it to market. In general, BIXS-registered producers want to know how well their animals met end market specifications and how their animals graded out. They likely keep good records and are apt to use the information they glean from BIXS to adapt their management and breeding programs to better meet the demand of up-chain participants, including consumers. BIXS producers see the value in using BIXS data to re-evaluate their practices and drive overall improvements at their cow-calf operation.
So, what is a BIXS animal arriving at a Canadian auction market? Plain and simple - it's a traceable age-verified data-backed animal.
Funding for BIXS has been provided by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada through the Agricultural Flexibility Fund.
