BIXS Cattle ID System Soon to Go Live

Farm Business Communications, 8/24/2010


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BIXS cattle ID system soon to go live

By Daniel Winters, Manitoba Co-operator


After extensive beta-testing by computer-savvy ranchers this summer, the online record-keeping system called the BIXS, or Beef InfoXchange System, will be ready for launch for the cow-calf sector by September of this year, says Larry Thomas, national co-ordinator for the CCA's Canadian Beef Advantage program.

"The countdown to the BIXS launch has begun," said Thomas in a presentation on the new system at the semi-annual CCA convention in Calgary. In the first stage of the launch, due to begin in September, some 6,000 users are expected to use the platform to input data on 60,000 head of cattle.

Along with the early adopters will be program partners such as members of the Beef Breeds Council, participants in the Pfizer Gold program, and the Canadian Angus Association, which will submit the contents of their databases into the system the instant it goes live.

The roll-out will come in stages so that kinks can be worked out before it is opened up the ranching public.


Lack of high-speed Internet access in rural areas is a problem, said Thomas. Those stuck on dial-up who wish to get their cattle on the BIXS will be able to order or download the necessary paper forms from the CCA, fill them out, and use a third party to input their data online.


The second phase, called BIXS 2, is touted as an information-exchange system that will eventually include all elements of the value chain, from the cow-calf producer to the feedlot operator and the packers. The developers of BIXS claim that the only limit to its future potential as a goldmine of production information will be the users' imagination.


Feedlots will be able to provide in and out dates for animals, so that cow-calf producers will be able to identify their best animals.
Packers will be able to scan carcasses for quality traits using a digital scanning camera that works in a way similar to an MRI in a hospital, then upload the data to BIXS where it can be accessed by the original cow-calf producer and compared with the national average.

Currently, Cargill and XL have scanners paid for with federal government funding already installed, and within a year portable units will be in place at other smaller packing plants across the country.


Data from the devices, which will go beyond grade information, to include carcass yield, ribeye area, marbling score and more, will be streamed back to the BIXS program so that the cow-calf operator who registered the RFID tag entry can access it.