Animal husbandry – Body- or appendage-encircling collar or band – Having or specifically adapted to support a diverse element...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-09
2002-08-27
Jordan, Charles T. (Department: 3644)
Animal husbandry
Body- or appendage-encircling collar or band
Having or specifically adapted to support a diverse element...
C119S655000, C040S300000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06439169
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a registration ear tag to be attached to ears of animals, a method of printing such an ear tag, and an individual identification method using such an ear tag, and particularly to an animal ear tag, a method of printing such an ear tag and an individual identification method using such an ear tag, in which the ear tag is printed with: an Animal Registration Number; and a part of the Animal Registration Number, which part is enlarged as a farm-use individual identification number, such that individual identification of animals on farms can be readily performed correspondingly to the number of animals bred or fed on each farm, in a manner comparable to typical ear tags.
BACKGROUND ART
Conventional methods for individually identifying animals bred in farms utilize can use muzzle patterns of cattle by the Japanese Wagyu Beef Registration Association and black and white body patterns of Holstein cattle by the Holstein Cattle Association. Although such individual identification methods are accurate, there is a problem that individual cattle cannot be identified, without their registration certificates, in the field, thereby not allowing quick individual identification.
Meanwhile, in countries other than Japan, such as in Europe, there has been practiced a dairy cow registration system utilizing ear tags. Each ear tag is constituted of two plates of soft plastic each having a length and a width of several centimeters, respectively, in which the ear tag is attached to an ear of a cow by passing one ends of the plates through the ear. In this case, the two plates constituting the ear tag are designed to be integrated with each other upon such attachment, so as to prevent illegal reuse of the ear tag.
In such a dairy cow registration system utilizing ear tags, the surface of an ear tag is printed with an Animal Registration Number, so that the individual identification of animals cannot be done satisfactorily by confirming the Animal Registration Number.
Meantime, the Animal Registration Number to be indicated on a common ear tag typically includes 2 to 3 digits for visibility, since it is sufficient to identify animals within one farms. There will be thus required an go additional design for such ear tags, if they are to be used for identifying all the cattle in Japan.
Turning to Europe where farm registration is practiced at the national level, there has been such a problem that when numbers of more than 8 digits, necessary for registration, are directly printed on ear tags, the size of numerals or figures indicating an Animal Registration Number becomes too small to easily see, Thus, the following procedure has been conducted in Europe: to enlargingly print numerals of the last 4 digits of an Animal Registration Number; or to indicate an Animal Registration Number in multiple rows so as
0
o subdivide the upper digits into an area code and a farm code and to enlargingly print the lowermost 4 digits as a farm-use individual identification number on an ear tag. (Hereinafter, the expression “numeral(s) at digit(s)” will be simply shortened to “digit(s)”, for expediency, as the case may be.)
However, the animal registration system utilizing ear tags, as used in Europe, has the following two problems.
(1) When only the last 4 digits of an Animal Registration Number excluding a check digit are enlargingly printed and the Animal Registration Number is issued in the ascending order from a lower number, farms are receive ear tags carrying enlargedly printed farm-use individual identification numbers of 4 digits, respectively, which numbers are consecutive correspondingly to the issued sequence, leading to difficulty in individually managing cattle by such ear tags. Namely, for a farm breeding 40 cows, among average farms breeding 40 to 50 cows, it is not always possible to obtain the desired numbers, such as from “0001”, to “0040”, which can be readily identified and managed. For example, there may be delivered 40 ear tags carrying enlarged farm-use individual identification numbers from “3678” to “3717”. Thus, it is not easy to individually manage cows by visually and instantaneously recognizing such 4-digit farm-use individual identification numbers, even when they have been enlarged. In addition, there has been such a problem of duplication of enlarged farm-use individual identification numbers.
(2) In the method where the upper digits of an Animal Registration Number are subdivided into an area code and a farm code (or farmland code) while the lowermost 4 digits are enlargedly printed on an ear tag as a farm-use individual identification number, it is assumed that 4-digit numbers from “0001” to “9999” are uniformly assigned to each farm irrespectively of a farm size and those numbers once assigned are never issued again. Thus, there has been a problem of lack of numbers on an extremely large farm, upon exceeding “9999”. Conversely, there has been another problem of occurrence of those numbers (so-called “dead numbers”) which will be never used even after a lapse of tens of years at an averaged farm level (breeding approximately 50 animals), thereby not providing efficient usage of farm use numbers.
As described above, the farm-use enlarged numbers have been always printed with 4 digits in Europe. According to such a method, it is only possible to select a particular Animal Registration Number 10,000 (ten thousands) ways, in selecting such an Animal Registration Number from the 4-digit numbers consisting of (0000) to (9999). However, the present applicant has discovered that it becomes possible to produce large numbers with drastically increased frequency if the numbers to be enlarged are printed in a 1-digit form in case of 0 to 9, in a 2-digit form in case of 11 to 99, and so forth, even under the same condition of 10,000 given of Animal Registration Numbers (0 to 9999). In other words, it becomes possible to produce unique Animal Registration Numbers to be partially enlarged at the request of farms without wastefulness, by indicating such large numbers with a required minimum number of digits. This is extremely simple, but provides a large effect.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an animal ear tag, a method of printing such an ear tag, and an individual identification method using such an ear tag, by which there can be effectively issued Animal Registration Numbers within a predetermined number of digits substantially without restriction, and those desired individual identification numbers suitable for readily and individually identifying animals in respective farms can be enlargedly printed as requested by the farms.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides, as a first embodiment, an ear tag, containing an Animal Registration Number consisting of codes including numerals, letters, or barcodes, to be used by attaching it to an ear of an animal in order to identify an individual animal, characterized in that: the Animal Registration Number having multiple digits is printed at least on one of the sides of the ear tag, and further, some part of the Animal Registration Number is enlarged and printed on the same or a different side of the ear tag where the Animal Registration Number is printed, in accordance with a request from an individual farm for identifying each animal on the farm, by using a minimum number of digits of the Animal Registration Number.
In the first embodiment, there can be provided an ear tag wherein some part of the Animal Registration Number to be enlarged is selected from adjacent digits of the Animal Registration Number, when the enlarged number to be printed on the ear tag has multiple digits.
In the first embodiment, there can be also provided an ear tag wherein some part of the Animal Registration Number to be enlarged is selected discontinuous from the digits of the Animal Registration Number, when the enlarged number to be printed on the ear tag has multiple digits.
In the above two cases, where the enlarged number to be printed on the ear
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner L.L.P.
Jordan Charles T.
Shaw Elizabeth
Surge Miyawaki Co., Ltd.
LandOfFree
Ear marks for livestock registration, printing method for... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Ear marks for livestock registration, printing method for..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Ear marks for livestock registration, printing method for... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2884641