The Canadian dairy industry and Québec (dairy and beef) have selected Allflex as the manufacturer for RFID tags, which display three reads—RFID, bar code, and visual.

In large setups, 90% of cattle are managed from the front. For this reason, numerous producers have requested that the electronic chip/transponder be moulded within the large or XL plastic panel dangle front with a panel back for the primary ear.

While the other ear would still carry panels front and back, the option of an XL front panel, and an even larger management number would be ideal. This size would offer easier readability for on-farm management and space to write supplementary data, e.g. date of birth, dam, and sire.

While this technology [of incorporating an electronic transponder into a large or XL tag] is not currently available, Holstein Canada aggressively proposes these features, on an optional basis, for those desiring these tags.

This calf displays a microchip button with junior panel back in one ear. The
security tag is numbered on the large panel front and back in the other ear.
Yellow lines indicate options desired by large herd operators.