Digital Angel’s Livestock Tag Sales Skyrocket
14 September, 2006
category: RFID
Will this mean the end of Mad Cow disease?
St. Paul, Minn.’s Digital Angel Corporation says sales of its electronic RFID livestock tags in Canada and the U.S. are doing so well, the company expects to have sold 1.9 million tags by the end of September.
That’s nearly 12 percent higher than the total of 1.7 million sold in all of 2005. The company recently started selling electronic livestock tags in Brazil; it already sells them in Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, and Uruguay.
Digital Angel Electronic RFID Livestock Tag Sales for 2006 Exceed Total Sales for Full Year 2005
Thursday September 14, 7:35 am ET
Sales Expected to Reach Approximately 1.9 Million Tags by End of September
SO. ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ – Digital Angel Corporation (Amex: DOC – News), an advanced technology company in the field of rapid and accurate identification, location tracking, and condition monitoring of high-value assets, announced today that sales of its electronic RFID (radio frequency identification) livestock tags in Canada and the U.S. are expected to surpass 1.9 million tags by the end of September which, after only nine months, is nearly 12 percent higher than the total of 1.7 million sold in all of 2005.
The increased sales are generally due to a greater awareness of the value that electronic tags (e-tags) provide for livestock traceability, which is fueled in part by the federal government-sponsored National Animal Identification System, said President and CEO Kevin N. McGrath. McGrath noted that while the national system is not due to be fully implemented until 2009, cattle ranchers are beginning to make the move toward electronic tagging which allows beef purchasers the ability to know where the cattle have been throughout their lives.
“We are seeing an evolution in the cattle ranching industry, particularly among the sophisticated, large cattle buyers, toward electronic tagging,” McGrath said. “The full adoption of the NAIS program is still in the future, but beef producers and the general public are much more aware today of the importance of traceability, particularly given the issues surrounding Mad Cow Disease and other potential animal health issues such as Hoof and Mouth Disease. We believe this general awareness is a trend that is here to stay.”
The sales increases are generally coming from Digital Angel’s larger U.S. and Canadian distributors who have traditionally been leaders in driving the adoption of advances in cattle tagging in the industry, McGrath added. Canada is also working toward implementing a national livestock identification system and is further along in the process than the U.S.
McGrath also noted that sales of visual tags, another key element in Digital Angel’s livestock tagging business, remain strong along with the increase in electronic tag sales. Many ranchers have both tags on their cattle, he said.
Digital Angel also recently announced that it had begun selling electronic livestock tags in Brazil, the largest beef exporting country in the world and home to nearly 200 million cattle. Digital Angel currently has a livestock tag sales presence in six Latin American countries including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico and Uruguay.
About Digital Angel Corporation
Digital Angel Corporation develops and deploys sensor and communications technologies that enable rapid and accurate identification, location tracking, and condition monitoring of high-value assets. Applications for the Company’s products include identification and monitoring of humans, pets, fish, poultry and livestock through its patented implantable microchips; location tracking and message monitoring of vehicles and aircraft in remote locations through systems that integrate GPS and geosynchronous satellite communications; and monitoring of asset conditions such as temperature and movement, through advanced miniature sensors.
Digital Angel Corporation is majority-owned by Applied Digital Inc. (Nasdaq: ADSX – News). For more information about Digital Angel, please visit www.DigitalAngelCorp.com.
