Innovative use and efficiency test of subcutaneous transponders for electronic identification of water buffaloes

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the viability of using transponders for the electronic identification of water buffaloes and compare their efficiency when used in animals of different age groups. Electronic transponders with RFID technology (2.1 × 12.2 mm) were implanted subcutaneously (D0) in the scutiform cartilage. The animals consisted of four groups: CLF-I (17 calves; 2.1 ± 1.9 months), CLF-II (20 calves; 5.1 ± 3.2 months), HFR (20 heifers; 22 ± 4.7 months) and STR (19 steers; 26.6 ± 6.7 months). The animals were kept under pasture grazing, a part of the year in the dryland and a part in the floodplain, and were monitored for up to 350 days. The average time required for individual transponder implant was 49.46 s, while the time required for reading the code was 3.76 s. The older calves required higher time for individual implant (P = 0.0001) and closer approximation of the reader in the D150 (P = 0.0001). The mean read distance was 2.98 cm in D0 and 1.94 cm in D150. The magnitude of the subcutaneous transponder migration was minimal, and was within an area of 17.2 mm 2 . A slight bleeding was observed in 15.79% of the animals during the implant. A decreasing incidence of edema was observed until D21, with the heifers being more sensitive until that time (P = 0.0099). Considering the results, it is preferred to implant electronic transponders in calves up to two months of age. The physical rate of transponder loss was 1.3% and the loss of functionality was 9.2%. High reading rate was achieved when animals were raised both in dryland (93.9%) and floodplain (97.2%). Thus, the electronic identification of water buffaloes is a technique capable of replacing traditional and rudimentary methods to identify buffaloes and can provide safe identification of animals.

Water buffalo production in the Brazilian Amazon Basin: a review

“…This growth is essentially related to both the larger number of milked animals and the development of specific technologies for water buffalo farming. These technologies include management strategies Pantoja et al 2018), reproductive techniques (Santos et al 2014;Barros et al 2016;Marin et al 2019), sanitary control (Otaka et al 2017), and processes for electronic animal identification (Garcia et al 2020). In addition, there is growing interest in the buffalo milk quality as it has been increasingly used for dairy product manufacture, due to the high protein and fat contents, which allows higher yields for the dairy industry.…”

Precision Livestock Farming Research: A Global Scientometric Review

“…Injectable glass tags boast high reliability and safety but are limited in their use on farms due to the difficulty of removing them at the slaughterhouse. It has been demonstrated by Garcia et al that the use of transponders is feasible for the EID of water buffaloes, and they recommended that electronic transponders be implanted in calves that are up to two months of age, as this reduces the physical rate of transponder loss and the loss of functionality [ 87 ]. Kandemir et al employed electronic leg tags (ELT) and electronic ear tags (EET) to identify goats and concluded that the traceability of ear-tagged animals was inferior [ 88 ].…”

Key points for the thermal comfort of water buffaloes in Eastern Amazon

“…For buffaloes, the use of subcutaneous transponders that operate in radio frequency (RFId) has been shown to be an efficient, safe, and accurate way of electronic identification, whether for adult or young animals. This technology can be adopted for animals raised in dryland or floodplain pastures, common in the Amazon environment, with an efficiency of 93.9% and 97.2%, respectively (GARCIA et al, 2020).…”