IMPLANTING ELECTRONIC IDENTIFICATION TRANSPONDERS UNDER THE SCUTIFORMCARTILAGE OF BEEF-CATTLE IS INAPPROPRIATE UNDER AUSTRALIAN CONDITIONS

Poor readout and recovery rates of electronic identification (EID) tra nsponders at the slaughter of feedlot steers raise doubts about the su itability of the scutiform cartilage as a site for implanting EID tran sponders in commercial beef herds in Australia. At slaughter, a readou t was obtained from 73% of 4630 implanted steers that were scanned. Fa ilure to give a readout was due to broken and lost transponders. Less than three-quarters of the transponders giving a readout at slaughter were recovered. These results could not be totally attributed to impla nting procedure as they were similar for different feedlot-abattoir co mbinations and different operators.