Ministry begins tracking farm animals

| 10/06/2022 | 32 Comments
Local cattle with visual ear tags

(CNS): The Ministry of Agriculture has started to roll out a National Livestock Identification and Tracking System as part of its efforts to modernise the agricultural sector, according to a press release. The aim is to enhance animal identification and disease surveillance, assist with the procurement and supply of feed and other resources based on livestock population data, and also to monitor genetic and breed variation within the Cayman Islands.

The system tracks imported livestock and includes information on identity, ownership and geographic location, which is stored electronically under the control of the Department of Agriculture’s Veterinary Division.

Several cows that were recently imported to the Cayman Islands by the Cayman Islands Agricultural Society with funding support from the Ministry of Agriculture have been incorporated under the new system. Visual ear tags have been affixed to each animal by a member of the Veterinary Division, with plans in place for an animal passport containing the same identification number as that on the ear tags to be issued to the owner.

This document will be required to accompany the animal when moved from one establishment to another.

Agriculture Minister Jay Ebanks said the new system will bring the Cayman Islands in line with international standards. “It is anticipated that in the future, when the tracking system is fully implemented, livestock across all three islands will be equipped with electronic identification tags, starting with cattle and goats, so that the movement of these animals, whether by sale or disposal by any means can be monitored by the system,” he added.

Farmers interested in having their animals tagged can call the Department of Agriculture at 947-3090.

The service is free and requires no advance scheduling. Advice on record keeping will be provided to the farmers by staff in the Veterinary Division.


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Category: Agriculture, Business

Comments (32)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Tracking livestock ? Another role for the Travel Cayman team to handle.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Perhaps they can use the licence plate tracking system. I am sure Eric Bush could organize a procurement for it.

  2. Anonymous says:

    In the 1970s this was the agricultural landscape in Cayman:

    Every district – many persons kept “grounds”, usually small parcels of land (house-lot sized) they cultivated for their own consumption and sale of extras;

    West Bay: John Bothwell’s Farm (fresh beef daily available at Bothwell’s Meat Market in GT). Billy McLaren’s egg farm (fresh eggs daily in some stores);

    George Town: Paul Bodden, the McFields of Breezy Way and many others raised cattle and kept horses.

    Savannah & Lower Valley: Cayman Cowboy territory – almost every family, particularly the Watlers, Boddens and Edens farmed cattle – perhaps thousands of heads between them;

    Bodden Town: John Garrity’s milk & fruit-juice bottling plant; Mary Lawrence’s Mijall Chicken Farm (fresh local whole chicken); Caribbean Farms (fresh milk delivered to your door daily);

    Eastern Districts: Usually the islands best ground “provisions”, fruits and veggies from the island’s “breadbasket” of the fertile Furtherland or Northside areas.

    Look at it now in comparison and truthfully tell me we haven’t gone backwards!

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    • Anonymous says:

      I remember empty shelves in the grocery store the day before the boat arrived. There has never been much local food available. Casava is not enough.

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  3. Anonymous says:

    How about fixing the radar and tracking storms instead of cattle🤔🤔🤔🤔

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  4. Anonymous says:

    But can’t track people?!!
    Who shelved the airport ID $System for border control?!!!

  5. Anonymous says:

    NO cayman produce or meat is Organic!!

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  6. Anonymous says:

    They need to be procuring better feed stuffs and fertilisers, stop poisoning us all with the chemicals.

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  7. Anonymous says:

    How dairy?!

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  8. Anonymous says:

    Becoming self-sufficient with certain food products will see prices go down as it isn’t imported. PACT really needs to start investing in this. It may take some heat off of the people’s wallets during this economically hard time.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Have you actually been to the market? Total ripoff.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Not all true – stay away from the resellers and buy from the farmers there.

        Hint: there are only 6 farmers selling there.

        All the others are resellers and rip-off con artists.

  9. Anonymous says:

    RFID tags?

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  10. Anonymous says:

    Another level of beauracracy created that will cost money to implement and manage all to solve a nonexistent problem. What the government does best.

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  11. Anonymous says:

    smells like bs to me….

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  12. Anonymous says:

    from the folks who can’t operate an airport car park ticketing system….
    this won’t end well.

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  13. Anonymous says:

    Anyone have a few heads of spare cattle? I need to borrow them to fake being a farmer so I can get a farmers licence? Just kidding, but seriously this is what happens. I hope the new tags don’t take as long to produce as the RFID licence plates.

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    • watcher says:

      You don’t have to fake being a farmer. Grow something. Anything. Go apply. That’s how it works.

      Bonus round: You can now get a firearm duty free, as opposed to the 106% the rest of the great unwashed have to pay.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Thanks for taking the bait, and noting that farmers (some fake ones) get a duty break by way of a farmers licence.

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  14. Anonymous says:

    A good idea in these uncertain times. Food security is very important but so too is animal welfare. I hope that the ministry will also do regular checks to make sure animals are healthy and happy and provided with plenty of shade, food, and most importantly water.

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  15. Anonymous says:

    I miss the good old days where you find a herd of cows wondering through the neighborhood.

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  16. Anonymous says:

    Oh no, not again? What happened to this intent which was announced some years ago, when a batch of cows were imported (I’m not referencing the most recent import). This was about 5-6 years ago, per my memory.

    I remember the same announcement by an official. What happened to that?

    Oh, sorry, we’re talking about the Civil service… it took this long to get the tags and documents to keep the records. Covid, of course.

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  17. Anonymous says:

    why does the cayman government think that increasing bueracracy and goverrnment inefficiency is “modernising” and a good thing?

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    • Anonymous says:

      @9:26…
      In BoBoland, increasing bureaucracy and government inefficiency is the modern way of operating.

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  18. Anonymous says:

    A mooving story if there ever was one.

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  19. Anonymous says:

    Can we use this system for the DVDL??? I am guessing it doesn’t take several years for a cow to get its ‘tags’.

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