Overview
Stage One:
   Country: New Zealand
   Location: Rangitata - Canterbury
Stage Two:
   Country: Mexico
   Location: Atlacomulco - Mexico

Customer Profile
Arthur Blakely has extensive experience within the mid-micron industry. This includes exporting stud sheep into South America.
Arthur’s aim was to oversee a Live-shipment of 35,000 breeding ewes to Mexico.

Business Situation
The livestock shipment needed to meet stringent MAF regulations. The regulations dictated that each individual animal was tracked throughout the process.

Solution
Agtrac combined its information system FarmHQ with RFID technology to deliver the required outcomes.

Benefits
ü  Complete end to end solution implemented
ü  MAF requirements met
ü  Complete traceability managed
ü Data collection did not restrict or “slow down” the operational process

The Largest Individually Recorded
Livestock Shipment Globally

OBJECTIVE
To provide an end to end solution to support the information requirements necessary for a livestock shipment of 35,000 individually recorded breeding ewes from Canterbury to Mexico.

CUSTOMER PROFILE
Arthur Blakely has been involved with Corriedale sheep all his life. Since 1966 Arthur has owned and managed “Clifton Corriedale Stud” located in the Hawarden Valley, North Canterbury, New Zealand.

In addition to Arthur’s farming interests he has extensive experience in judging Corriedale’s in South America and Australia while also a member of the NZ Sheep Breeders Council and the vice-president of both the Corriedale and Suffolk breed societies.

Arthur has had experience in exporting stud sheep into South America over a number of years; however he had never undertaken a shipment of this size before.

BUSINESS SITUATION
MAF have strict guidelines regarding the shipment of livestock for breeding purposes. These guidelines include the requirement to individually track animals from their point of origin through to the final destination for delivery.

The main barrier was managing the volume of animals and the information required by MAF (Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries).

To successfully implement the project 39,000 ewes would be individually tracked from 29 properties situated throughout the wider Canterbury region. They would be weighed and recorded prior to being transported to a quarantine farm located at Rangitata. From entry onto the quarantine farm animals would be individually identified while being weighed, blood tested, pregnancy scanned and drafted into forty different paddocks. Of the 36,000 animals which qualified at the first stage based on a minimum liveweight requirement a percentage would then have to be identified and removed for failing a designated blood test. The remaining animals were then recorded on exit from the quarantine property and loaded onto the trucks for delivery to the port.

The total management process was given six weeks from start to finish.

SOLUTION

What was needed to assist the business?

To provide an end to end solution managing and supporting the information requirements necessary for a livestock shipment of an estimated 35,000 individually recorded breeding ewes from “Canterbury” - New Zealand to Mexico.

How was this implemented?

Agtrac provided the solution by supplying the RFID hardware, Animal handling systems, data management, and staff.

The first step was to out source the required RFID technology, animal handling equipment and provide the database FarmHQ for data collection and analysis.

Agtrac then coordinated with the procurement agent and the 29 properties involved to tag, individually record and weigh the ewes on farm. Ewes that were above the minimum target weight were drafted off and recorded. At the end of each day the data was imported into “FarmHQ”.
This provided the first level of traceability – point of origin for each animal.
Summary data of approved numbers were then relayed to the procurement agent on a nightly basis.

On entry onto the quarantine property animals were reconciled, blood tested, and weighed.

To ensure the blood samples could be linked to each individual animal Agtrac used barcode printers to provide the link to the RFID tag of each animal. The bar-coded label was applied to the blood pottle and the samples were sent overnight to the Agri-quality lab for testing the following day.

Of the 36,000 ewes tested 1.5% failed with a positive blood test. Files received from the Agri-quality lab containing the blood results were sent to Agtrac and imported into FarmHQ on a nightly basis. Information presented from FarmHQ was used to identify and set up the required draft files for the animals that needed to be removed from the property.

On exit the ewes were rescanned to ensure their passports qualified for dispatched.

Paul Gavegan Agtrac’s Business Development Manager went to “La Querencia” situated in Atlacomulco, Mexico to assist in the dispatch process.

WHAT WERE THE BENEFITS
Agtrac provided a complete end to end solution. As a result the project was monitored by Agri-quality and approved by MAF.

Agtrac supplied a unique blend of skills with an in-depth knowledge of RFID technology, data management, and practical on-farm skills.

Through using RFID technology the speed of the project was not limited by the amount of information required to handle such a large task.

Agtrac provided the information link between the Purchaser, Procurement agent, and Agri-quality. 

REPORTS
ü Individual Animal Identification
ü Reconciliation
ü Liveweight
ü Blood results
ü Pregnancy scan results
ü Draft reports
ü Final (Passport)

The final shipment list was provided by Agtrac to include all of the areas required to satisfy both parties related to the sale and purchase.

What you get
A completely managed project to Include:
ü Professional Advice
ü Project timelines ensured
ü Complete livestock traceability
ü Integration of RFID technology
ü Capable staff
ü Secured data Management