Chief Executive Officer of the BAS, James Paul, making a point during the opening of the workshop.
Attendees at yesterday’s Agrofest 2017 – Livestock Workshop.
BAS promoting use of microchips in livestock
Sun, 01/15/2017 - 12:00am
THE Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) is pushing the idea of putting microchips in livestock to help farmers keep better records and to ensure they are achieving better production from their animals.
Chief Executive Officer of the BAS, James Paul, spoke to this as he noted that the microchips can also be useful from a security point of view, as persons can use the requisite scanners to identify their animals. With that in mind, he said that going forward the BAS will be hosting training seminars to teach persons how to microchip their animals.
He made the point while noting that the heifers recently imported into the island for dairy farmers have already been tagged with microchips and the intention is that as the Barbados Pig Farmers’ Association and the BAS launch the Gilt Replacement Programme, they will also be tagging the best gilts – unbred female pigs – with microchips and the farmers will be required to keep data on those animals.
He explained that the gilt programme is intended to help boost pork production in this country and ensure better quality herds, as he noted that sometimes the demands on the market have found farmers sending a greater number of gilts to slaughter. But he warned that these actions are compromising the future of the sector.
His comments came as he indicated that there has also been a reduction in the weight of the animals being slaughtered. He lamented that farmers have been having difficulty meeting the 180 to 200 pounds limit per animal, instituted by local meat processor HIPAC Limited.
“We have seen people taking gilts that are prime stock, that have the characteristics that you would want to retain in an animal and sending them to market… This Christmas here for instance, in the last week of Christmas was an excellent time for farmers; you could have sold any part of a pig because people just wanted pork. Around Christmas time is when people are looking for pork, people want some pork on their table,” he said.
He explained that the gilt programme will replace a similar initiative that was done by the Ministry of Agriculture which is being cancelled. He said through the programme, they plan to identify three gilts per month and the farmers owning those gilts will receive $500 for each to retain them. This, he said, will cost the Association $18 000 per year.
“I would like to do 20 animals when the month comes, but we can’t because we don’t have the resources. But this Association has taken the decision to do three, and hopefully during the period of the year we should be able to do 36 animals,” he said. (JRT)