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| 2011 regional and international events - click here for details... |
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| Chronicle |
| Current Meat Chronicle 052011 MEAT BOARD’S BOARD MEETING HELD AT OSHAKATI... |
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| The Farm Assured Namibian Meat Scheme, FAN Meat, has got a new face. The former FAN Meat logo has been abandoned to make space for a newly designed logo that visually refers to our country Namibia and to livestock/ meat production. The new logo was created during a consultative process with stakeholders. Companies and other entities wishing to use the FAN Meat logo are requested to contact the FAN Meat office at the Meat Board. |  |
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| FAN MEAT STANDARDS |
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As announced previously, FAN Meat standards have been revised and updated in order to keep pace with international livestock farming standards. Updates in the standards were made mainly in the fields of animal welfare, record keeping and environmental issues. The new standards will be printed in a handy booklet format and will be made available free of charge from the 1 October 2010 on. The FAN Meat standards will reach producers together with the new official cattle ear tags. Furthermore, they will be available at Directorate Veterinary Services (DVS) and Extension offices. Download the FAN Meat Standards, PDF 242KB  |
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| MANAGEMENT CALENDAR |
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| The Meat Board of Namibia and AGRA jointly developed an annual management calendar for cattle, sheep and goat producers. |
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| The calendar serves as guidance to farm management by recommending appropriate breeding schedules, feed supplementation and preventive medical treatments. The lower section of the calendar provides space for individual information, such as slaughter days, dates of farm inspection or auctions. The calendars can be obtained for free soon at the Meat Board offices, AGRA branches and DVS offices. |  |
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Download the Calendar, JPG, 750KB |
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| DOUBLE EAR TAGGING to take off |
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| The new animal identification regulations which were published in March 2009 come into effect later this year. Livestock producers will be required to identify their cattle with a set of one visual ear tag and one RFID (radio frequency identification device) ear tag. | ||||||
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| Deviating from current legal requirements, cattle will have to be ear tagged the latest at the age of 6 months or before movement, whatever occurs earlier. The regulations further stipulate that tagged cattle have to be individually registered on the Namibian Livestock Identification and Traceability System (NamLITS) database by returning completed Animal Registration Cards to DVS within 14 days of tagging. |
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| Important dates for cattle producers in the FMD free zone are as follows: |
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| CATTLE IDENTIFICATION BROCHURE | ||||||
Download Cattle Identification Brochure (Afrikaans/Damara), PDF, 260KB Download Cattle Identification Brochure (English/Herero), PDF, 260KB |
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| Cost of Ear Tags | ||||||
| The end producer prices for the new ear tags are N$16.50 for a set of RFID/ standard visual tags and N$20.00 for a set of RFID/ Maxi visual tags, both prices include 15% VAT. These prices are introductory prices and will be reviewed subject to fluctuations of the Euro/Namibian Dollar exchange rate. In order to support producers financially during the transition period, financial assistance is being made available by the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry. The Ministry will support the purchase the initial buying of ear tag sets through a subsidy of N$ 5.00 for new sets of tags, N$ 6.20 for reimbursement of unused single tags and N$3.00 for the replacement of old single ear tags. The administration of the subsidy and compensation funds will be handled by the Meat Board and details on the claim back procedures will be announced shortly. |
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| Changes to the ordering and distribution of ear tags | ||||||
| The Meat Board of Namibia (MBN) has since the beginning been involved in the management and administration of the traceability system. With the introduction of on-farm double ear tagging, the Meat Board will be taking over the role of the distributor for the areas south of the Veterinary Cordon Fence. Farmers will continue to purchase tags from their current suppliers, e.g. AGRA branches, SWAVET, Farmer Associations etc. At a later stage, producers can place orders directly at the Meat Board. In order to speed up the process of ordering and receiving ear tags for producers and to reduce costs involved, the following changes are put in place: |
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| Some farmers might regret that their Stock brand code will not be printed anymore onto the text. This was done in order to significantly reduce the costs. However, farmers can make use of the blank space provided on the Maxi tags to write on additional information. | ||||||
| Traceability in the NCAs | ||||||
| The traceability system will be extended to the Northern Communal Areas (NCAs) where double-ear tagging and cattle registration will be introduced. The Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry will be tagging and registering cattle with support from the Millennium Challenge Account Namibia (MCA Namibia). In addition to branding, cattle will be identified with combo sets of visual and RFID ear tags. Numeric identification on the tags will differ from the FMD free zone by referring to the brand area. Also, ear tags will have different colors referring to the different Animal Disease Risk Management Zones. |
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| The Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry will be tagging and registering cattle with support from the Millennium Challenge Account Namibia (MCA Namibia). In addition to branding, cattle will be identified with combo sets of visual and RFID ear tags. Numeric identification on the tags will differ from the FMD free zone by referring to the brand area. Also, ear tags will have different colors referring to the different Animal Disease Risk Management Zones. |
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| Important dates for cattle producers in the NCAs are as follows: |
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| For any enquiries producers are welcome to contact the FAN Meat office of the Meat Board of Namibia at +264 61 275844 or per email. |
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