Animal Identification Literature Review

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an electronic form of identifying animals, particularly cattle, sheep and pets. RFID technology involves a microchip with a miniature radio transmitter and antenna that communicates with a reader. There are various forms of RFID technology with the most common being ear tag buttons, microchip and neck collar.
The microchip is a sub-dermal implant and the most common locations for implantation are near the neck, between the shoulder blades, or near the base of the ear (Neary and Yager, 2002) that is called ear tag.
Neck collars are just like neck chains but instead of a number tag they have an electronic tag attached (Neary and Yager, 2002).
RFID ear tags are the most common RFID system in cattle. They have the technology embedded in them and are placed in the ear like a number ear tag. With any of these RFID technologies a scanner reads the microchip, interprets the radio signal as a numerical code, and brings up the animals recorded information from herd management software (Neary and Yager, 2002).
The main advantage to RFID technology is that none of them require line of sight visual readings. The RFID signal can travel through various body tissues and materials and be read by the scanner. RFID also offers individually unique identification codes that facilitate an identification database. The main drawbacks to this system are the initial start up cost, the need for computer based herd management software, and the potential losses of RFID transponders (Manuel, 2013).
#Iman Abrishamchi