"PELIT" Efficacy Trials in Bovine Animals

(Permanent Electronic Livestock Identification Tags)

Abstract

These trials, part of a collaborative effort by a team of researchers from several universities,² investigated an alternate site for transponder implants in bovines: the lower leg. Expectations were that a transponder implanted in an animal's leg would not migrate and would be easy to read with either a hand-held or stationary device. These trials focused on two additional issues: the ease of implantation and the survivability of the "leg implants" over time.

An additional study, conducted by a dairyman,³ evaluated the stress placed on mature dairy cows when a TENS unit, which uses transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation to lock the animal's skeletal muscles, was used to restrain the cows during injection of the PELIT. For this study, milk production was recorded for five days before the injections and compared to milk production recorded for five days after the injections.