COST OF IMPLANTATION OF BOVINE TRACEABILITY USING DIFFERENT METHODS OF IDENTIFICATION ALLOWED BY SISBOV

Abstract

This research had the aim of estimating through simulation the cost of different methods of bovine identification, as well as discussing some advantages and limitations of each one in order to provide information that subsidizes technicians and farmers to choose a method to identify the bovines due to the implantation of SISBOV. All the operational expenses related to the bovine and bubaline identification with ear and botton (brbo), ring and fire mark (brmf), ring and tattoo (brta) and ring with different electronic device (brde) (chip intraruminal  -  chip intra; sub-coetaneous chip - chip sub; and electronic ear - bri ele) were checked out. It was considered in the simulation the identification of 100, 500, 1000 and 5000 animals. The cost of identification and traceability varied due to the used method as well as the number of animals, being the ring and the fire mark the ones that had the lowest cost in different production scales among the ones with less use of technology; while among the electronic device, the ones that had the lowest cost were the ring, the electronic ring, ring and sub-coetaneous chip in the lowest and highest scales, respectively. Therefore, it depends on each farmer and/or technician to define which identification method is appropriate to his production system, considering the advantages and limitations of each.

Key-words: Animal identification, beef cattle, cost of production, simulation, traceability.