What is age verification of beef cattle?

Gary Sliworsky
Ag. Rep.

Birth date verification, or age verification of beef cattle – what is it? Age verification is the association of animal birth date data with an Animal Identification Number (Single Tag or Tag Group). There is an ever increasing demand for accurate age determination in Canadian cattle. A new system provides an effective and international recognized Age Verification Process.
This free of charge, voluntary program enables producers to store information and have it readily available should it be required by domestic or export markets. Producers who do not have internet access can assign a third-party user to submit information on their behalf.
How do you submit birth dates? Prior to being able to submit data for the first time, users must validate themselves on the Age Verification Website. This step ensures the highest data integrity is met at all times. Participating producers register online at the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency (CCIA) website by providing your Personal Identification Number (PIN) given to dealers when tags are purchased. After being successfully validated, users can log in at any time with their user name and password.
The next stage of the registration process includes creating a “Username” and “Password” for future visits to the site. After logging in, you are directed to a “voluntary questionnaire” page, where the CCIA will collect additional (voluntary) information.
Providing birth data is purely voluntary. But Canada’s international trading partners are proposing birth date information for verifying the age of cattle as a prerequisite for them to be eligible for export.
You can submit birth date information in two different ways. One way is to enter the actual birth date and tag number of each individual calf. The other way is to record the birth date of the first and last calf born and also record the first and last tag number used. This will verify that all calves with this series of tags were born within the first and last birth date listed.
Once submission of data is complete, producers have the option of generating specific birth certificates as needed.
For more information on age verification, contact the CCIA office, 1-877-909-2333 or visit the CCIA website at www.canadaid.ca