NEW SYSTEM SHOULD HELP TRACK LIVESTOCK

Members of Free State Agriculture (FL) have launched a project to make it easier to detect foot-and-mouth disease in animals.

This comes after the first foot-and-mouth disease incident in 2022, which had enormous financial consequences for the province’s livestock value chain.

During the organisation’s 2022 congress, members of FL saw fit to prevent further risks by putting this plan into action.

According to Francois Wilken, president of FL, the organisation has investigated several possible solutions, including livestock management software, microchips and systems that collect information by means of artificial intelligence.

The animal identification and movement system (AIMS) was finally decided upon. This is already being implemented in the Eastern Cape by Agri Eastern Cape.

The live web page was launched during a meeting with the Bethlehem District Farmers’ Union.

Allfex, a supplier of farm equipment, which provides electronic identification and visual laser printed tags (VID), will also be involved in the system. VID tags contain a QR code of the unique number that enables accurate data capture with a smartphone.

Source : Free State Agriculture