Different animal identification methods and application in disease outbreaks

Abstract

Individual animal identification can be useful for veterinarians to assist in management and prevention of disease outbreaks in cattle herds. Multiple methods exist for individually identifying cattle and the primary consideration matching the utility and ex­pense of the tag with the desired goal for identifying the animal. Animal disease traceability is an important aspect of regulatory veterinary medicine, and each practitioner plays a role in main­taining a consistent, safe supply of U.S. beef. Individual animal identification can be useful in managing a production-level disease outbreak to more rapidly identify commonality among affected cattle. One example of using data to make decisions is visualizing pregnancy distribution data to narrow differential diagnoses. Multiple methods of individual animal identification are available and veterinarians have an opportunity to work with their clients to capture value from a system to collect data.