Cows Identified by Retinal Imaging

wackoman2112 writes "According to this article, ranchers on western cattle ranches are keeping track of their cattle with the "OptiReader," a small handheld which takes retinal scans. They scan a cow's eye and record information in the database about the animal's color, weight, and genetic linage. Hmmm... This could be justification for a YRO for animals."

Comments

cowbells

[trompete]

I guess that will be the end of the cowbells.
Cowbells are pretty cool though. I spent some time in the Austrian Alps and met some farmers who could tell me which cow was nearby by the pitch of the bell.
I suppose the next thing to come along will be RFID tags for cows.

Re:cowbells

[eibhear]

Believe it or not, RFID (or something similar) was proposed for livestock agriculture some time ago. When I was in college in the early nineties, a classmate of mine worked on a project to develop a better polymer to encase a unique radio transmitter. The job of the material was to protect the transmitter from disgestion as it rested at the bottom of one of the cow's stomachs (for the city slickers among you, cows have four stomachs -- one for each food group). Each cow could then be uniquely identified. I don't know how the technology [PDF] developed from then, but I'm sure the less intrusive the means of keeping track on the cattle (for both the cattle and the farmer), the better. ibhear

inventory control

[Naikrovek]

inventory control is something to me that makes a lot of sense. people foamed at the mouth when RFID tags were to be put in clothes, but few realized that they're useless once they leave the store that owns the clothes. its just inventory control, to keep people from stealing said clothes.

farmers are doing it for more than just inventory control though, they're using it to easily determine which genetic lines produce the best milk producers, the best meat, etc. this is a good thing, it *should* lower the prices of milk and beef a bit, and it should improve the overall quality the steak on your table.

i'm all for this. technology for tracking isn't *all* bad.

Just out of curiosity...

[$exyNerdie]

Just out of curiosity.... do the retinal images of cows never change just the way human finger prints don't change from childhood to death ??

YRO for animals?

[frankjr]

I think these animals have a little more to be worried about than having their retinas scanned. I think they're worried about being eaten.

Brilliant plan there....

[Dr. Bent]

"This could be justification for a YRO for animals."

Hmmmm. Yeah, that would be a great idea except for the fact that COWS CAN'T READ!

Re:Brilliant plan there....

[NanoGator]

"Hmmmm. Yeah, that would be a great idea except for the fact that COWS CAN'T READ!"

Bullshit. Hillary Rosen responded to one of my messages once.

Re:Brilliant plan there....

[Poofat]

Few slashdotters read the articles/posts before shooting their mouths off, so whats different? Maybe the cow could post more coherently than some people...

Cow Rights Online

[patch-rustem]

IANAC (I am not a cow), but I would much prefer to have a laser shone in my eye than have tag slough off my ear.
I'd also rather not be eaten.

(How about a Your Cow Online Section? )

cross pollination

[faldore]

One of many examples of the ways different areas of science can be useful to real people when you mix them. Here we have forensics + computer science + farming = innovation. Why can't more people think like this?

Farmers don't care about intrusive procedures

[DrSkwid]

I've worked on farms and the last thing farmers seem to care about is the short term pain (and long term in some cases) of their prisoners.

Branding
Ear tags
De-beaking
Artificial insemination
Murder

A was in a shed when a shearer cut off the nipple of one of the sheep. His reaction - pissed off because he had to stop shearing to "take care" of the poor animal. First he applied anaesthetic (well, he hit it on the forehead until it stopped struggling) and then kind of sewed up the hole and pushed it down the ramp into the outside pen.

The fields are full of cows, ever wonder where all the bulls are?

The fields are full of sheep, ever wonder where the rams are?

Where are the chickens? Oh there's thousands of them crammed into that little shed, three to cage and they have to have their beaks cut off to stop them killing each other.

The trouble with country folk is they've lost touch with nature.

This won't replace the ear tags

[David Frankenstein]

Even with this technology, ear tags will still be used some places to control parasites/pests. The real meat here (pun intended) is the connection to a secure central DB that can track the animals from ranch to market.

Computer cowboy

[Chagatai]

I work for one of the largest beef and pork producers in America. We have a large number of feedlots and facilities (slaughterhouses) across the states. I can confirm that as of right now all we use for identification is the standard issue ear tags. We have been exploring the use of RFID for animals, but until the prices drop to the point where ear tags and RFID cost the same it doesn't make sense for us to alter our business plan and invest in a whole new set of materials, equipment, and training costs.

While the retinal scanning does sound promising, that also only helps while the animal is alive. Plus, it requires a certain degree of "cooperation" with the cows. The tags are also more efficient for identifying members of a pen at a distance by tag color alone. Once they come into our facilites, too, retinal scanning does us no good as they get knocked and killed pretty quick. Unless you wanted to track the offal by retinal scans, that's about all it would be good for. You'd be surprised at the way in which our livestock is inventoried and moved around these plants; it is quite scientific, humane, and sterile.

Oops...

[MoobY]

I read "rectal" instead of "retinal." That would've been pretty curious.