Age Verification for Cattle

In Alberta, age verification is a requirement for all cattle born on or after January 1, 2009. Age verification links an individual animal’s birth date information to an approved Canadian Cattle Identification Agency (CCIA) radio frequency identification (RFID) tag number. Cattle need to be age verified in the CCIA database called the Canadian Livestock Tracking System (CLTS) before 10 months of age or before leaving the farm of origin (whichever occurs first).

If you require assistance in age verifying your cattle, you can also contact CCIA at 1-877-909-2333. Agriculture and Forestry staff in provincial field offices are available to assist you as well. To find the closest traceability service provider to you, visit www.agriculture.alberta.ca/traceabilityconnects.

There are also third party service providers that can assist with age verification. A cost may be charged for the services provided. You can contact your local Agricultural Service Board or Agricultural Association to see if they offer age verification. For other third party service providers in your area, please contact CCIA at 1-877-909-2333.

Using the Canadian Livestock Tracking System (CLTS)

Age verification information can be reported into the CLTS by visiting www.clia.livestockid.ca. If you require assistance using the CLTS, the CLTS Resource Centre has a collection of step-by-step instructions, educational videos and links to the spreadsheets that can be used to complete age verification.

Visit the CLTS Resource Centre at http://support.canadaid.ca to learn how to:

• submit a birth date event
• create a birth certificate
• cross reference your tags