Animal Idents and Sale Catalogues

With spring sale catalogue production in full swing, it is timely to remind members of important changes to the Angus Australia regulations that apply to the identification of animals that were born from January 1st, 2021, onwards (calves with the year letter code S and onwards), as there are implications for Members submitting sale catalogue information to Angus Australia. 

WHAT WERE THE CHANGES?

• Change to Animal IDs:  The unique animal ID assigned to each animal recorded with Angus Australia consists of the breeder’s herd identifier, a breeding year letter and an animal number. e.g. ABCS1.While this animal ID format has served the Angus breed well for many years, it has a major shortcoming being the duplication of animal IDs every 24 years. For example, ABCS1 (birth year 1973), ABCS1 (birth year 1997) and ABCS1 (birth year 2021). This shortcoming requires Angus Australia to add a suffix to the animal ID for animals born greater than 24 years ago (e.g. ABCR1+72, ABCR1+96), which causes considerable problems in circumstances where the original animal ID has previously been recorded in other databases. For example, in herd recording software programs managed by individual members, or when animals have been recorded with overseas Breed Societies.

• To remove the duplication of animal IDs, the unique animal ID assigned to animals with a birth date of 1/1/2021 onwards has been changed to consist of the breeder’s herd identifier, a two character year of birth, a breeding year letter and an animal number. That is, rather than ABCS1, the animal ID assigned will be ABC21S1. The change will only apply to the ID of animals born from 1/1/2021 onwards. No change will be made retrospectively to the ID of animals already recorded with Angus Australia, or who are recorded in the future but are born prior to 1/1/2021. Further, the change in format only applies to the animal ID assigned by Angus Australia, and does not require any change to the current practice of displaying only the year letter and number (e.g. R1) when tagging, tattooing or branding animals. The change to the animal ID format for animals born from 1/1/2021 onwards will ensure the animal ID assigned to animals is indeed unique, and will remove the current difficulties and inconvenience to Angus Australia, members and other organisations that result from the need to add a suffix to the IDs of historic animals that are born more than 24 years ago. 

To learn more about the introduction of these changes CLICK HERE 

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WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR SALE CATALOGUES? 

When completing the Excel Spreadsheet for Entering Lots members must ensure that they are entering the animal ident exactly as it is recorded with Angus Australia. Therefore, for S calves and onwards the ident structure consists of the breeder’s herd identifier, a two-character year of birth, a breeding year letter and an animal number. That is, rather than ABCS1, the animal ID assigned will be ABC21S1. 

Members who submit the Excel spreadsheet for entering lots with incorrect lot idents will be asked to resubmit the information in the correct format. 

 For more information on Angus Australia’s catalogue services, please CLICK HERE