Barge, P., Gay, P., Merlino, V. and Tortia, C. 2013. Radio frequency identification technologies for livestock management and meat supply chain traceability. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 93: 23Á33. Animal electronic identification could be exploited by farmers as an interesting opportunity to increase the efficiency of herd management and traceability. Although radio frequency identification (RFID) solutions for animal identification have already been envisaged, the integration of a RFID traceability system at farm level has to be carried out carefully, considering different aspects (farm type, number and species of animals, barn structure). The tag persistence on the animal after application, the tag-to-tag collisions in the case of many animals contemporarily present in the reading area of the same antenna and the barn layout play determinant roles in system reliability. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the RFID identification system performance and determine the best practice to apply these devices in livestock management. RFID systems were tested both in laboratory, on the farm and in slaughterhouses for the implementation of a traceability system with automatic animal data capture. For this purpose a complete system for animal identification and tracking, accomplishing regulatory compliance as well as supply chain management requirements, has been developed and is described in the paper. Results were encouraging for identification of calves both in farms and slaughterhouses, while in swine breeding, identification was critical for small piglets. In this case, the design of a RFID gate where tag-to-tag collisions are avoided should be envisaged.Key words: Animal identification, farm and livestock management, radio frequency identification, traceability Barge, P., Gay, P., Merlino, V. et Tortia, C. 2013. Technologies d'identification en radio fre´quence pour la gestion du cheptel et la trac¸abilite´de la chaine d'approvisionnement de la viande. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 93: 23Á33. L'identification e´lectronique des animaux peut eˆtre exploite´e par les e´leveurs comme une occasion pour ame´liorer l'efficacite´de gestion du troupeau et la trac¸abilite´. Bien que les syste`mes RFID (identification par radio-fre´quence) pour l'identification des animaux aient de´ja`e´teé nvisage´s, l'inte´gration d'un syste`me de suivi e´lectronique au niveau de la ferme doit eˆtre effectue´soigneusement en tenant compte de diffe´rents aspects (type d'exploitation agricole, le nombre et les espe`ces d'animaux, la structure de l'e´table). La durabilite´du transpondeur chez l'animal, la pre´sence simultane´e de plusieurs animaux dans la zone de lecture de l'antenne ainsi que l'agencement de l'e´table jouent un roˆle de´cisif sur le niveau de fiabilite´du syste`me. Le but de cet article est d'e´valuer le rendement d'un syste`me d'identification e´lectronique RFID et de de´finir les meilleures pratiques pour son utilisation dans la gestion du troupeau. Le syste`me d'identification e´lectronique RFID a e´te´teste´en laboratoire, a`la ferme et da...