The Beef InfoXchange System (BIXS) is also intended to be the foundation for the “verified sustainable beef” initiative that McDonald’s is piloting in Canada.

At the recent Livestock Gentec Conference, program administrator Holly LaBrie made a pitch for producers to sign up — and warned of the consequences if there isn’t a sharp increase in uptake.

“We know McDonald’s and A&W are looking for this information because they’re asking for it,” said LaBrie. “They’re beating down the door for the information, but if we don’t put it in there, then BIXS will die. So we need you to be there and be using it.”

Larry Thomas, national co-ordinator of the program, refused to say exactly how many producers have enrolled in BIXS 2.0, other than it’s between 500 and 1,000. But he also said those numbers need to jump dramatically.

• More from the Alberta Farmer Express: Second version of beef database launched

“Nothing can live forever if no one is using it,” Thomas said in an interview. “It hasn’t reached the critical mass that I’d like to see. A system like BIXS needs users.”

But Thomas said he’s not “overly worried” because the second version of the program, BIXS 2.0, has not been heavily promoted since being given a soft launch in late March.

• FAQs on BIXS 2.0

A reliable and easy-to-use database to capture cattle information from pasture to packing plant is considered by many to be critical to the future success of the Canadian beef sector, and was one of the key recommendations of the Straw Man Beef Industry Initiative task force.

“It is imperative that the common repository be operational, efficient and sustainable,” the task force said in its December report, Building a Stronger Canadian Beef Industry.

• From the Canadian Cattlemen: Beef industry leaders urged to unite for common good

The report also stated that “to be functional, a target of two million calves per year of quality, accurate producer, feedlot and carcass data by 2015 has been suggested.”

“We’d like to be further ahead with it,” said Dennis Laycraft, executive director of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA).

He said senior McDonald’s officials have reviewed the program and the system can capture the data the company needs for its pilot program. The goal of the original system was to collect information such as age verification and vaccination records while giving producers carcass data to help them refine their breeding and management programs. By adding other information — such as a ranch’s environmental stewardship and animal welfare efforts — BIXS 2.0 could meet the goals of McDonald’s, the largest buyer of Canadian beef. The company wants to show consumers that its beef comes from animals that are treated humanely and raised in a way that does not harm the environment.

“We believe there’s just so much demand out there for information,” said Laycraft. “We’re in the strongest position in the world as a country with what we’ve been doing on the quality and food safety side. If we can attach that to the animal records — that’s where a system like BIXS comes in — we will position ourselves probably as strongly as any beef-producing country in the world.

“It would be very disappointing if we’re not able to get that.”

He said he remains optimistic BIXS 2.0 will be successful, but added “it has to be a system that attracts a significant amount of usage to justify its existence.”

Not only do large customers such as A&W and McDonald’s want to know how producers raise their cattle and to be able to access cattle management data, so does the European Union, said Dave Solverson, CCA president.

“I’m thinking we’ll see an increase in uptake when producers see direct value,” said Solverson. “As these new markets require certain things to be done, and identified, that will necessitate involvement in BIXS.”

The revamped BIXS 2.0 is also greatly improved, and is both easier to use and much faster, Laycraft, Thomas, and LaBrie said.

The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association has been working with software developer Arcurve to fix bugs during the soft launch phase. The database can track age verification, husbandry data, vaccination data, tombstone data and genetic tests.

Users have been impressed by how easy the new version is to use, and its adaptability, said Laycraft.

Users of BIXS 1.0 will find all of their data in the new system, added Thomas.

“The first time someone logs in, they haven’t even done anything and all their carcass data is there,” he said.

However, there are still some issues to work out.

The process of validating a producer’s account and transferring the data is relatively slow. The database only contains three million carcass records and the CCA is still searching for packing information. As well, any supplier who wants cattle using BIXS has to contact LaBrie, who searches and then finds the results. This process will eventually be automated, but that’s still in the works.

Most of the kinks will be ironed out soon and the system will be given a full launch sometime this fall, said Thomas.

Even in its current form, the system offers real value to cattle producers, said Laycraft.

“The greatest benefit to the individual producer will be having more information attached to the animals, and getting more information back on how the animals perform,” he said.

The post BIXS open for business, but only a fraction of producers have signed up appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Did you think, ‘Oh goodie, more paperwork.’

And, of course, you must have noted McDonald’s is not offering premiums for this program. That’s a point made repeatedly by senior company officials in a very well-researched (and very lengthy) article at greenbiz.com on the sustainable beef initiative.

So more hoops for producers to jump through and no extra money. It’s the same old story, right?

But there just might be something very different going on here.

In the same greenbiz.com story, McDonald’s officials also repeatedly insist that producers who participate in its program will be able to boost their profitability.

That’s likely why the company sent a link to the article to members of the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef a couple of months back.

My first thought was this is crazy talk. Doing extra stuff takes time and costs money, so sustainable beef will be more expensive to produce.

• More from the Alberta Farmer Express: Canada picked for sustainable beef pilot

But my second thought was McDonald’s and its corporate partners in the global sustainable beef initiative — JBS, Cargill, and Walmart — know a thing or two about finding efficiencies. And they do it by recording and tracking everything, and then mining that vast pool of data to find a better way.

Details on McDonald’s sustainable beef pilot are scarce, but the idea seems to be to take the newly relaunched Beef InfoXchange System (BIXS 2.0) and add data from an enhanced Verified Beef Production program. VBP’s website states that in addition to adding modules on animal care, environmental stewardship, and biosecurity, it will also be incorporating “existing materials” from the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef.

There’s not much in the way of existing materials at this point, just guiding principles. Environmental protection and animal health and welfare are two of them, but so is efficiency and innovation.

It’s pretty easy to see how efficiency and innovation figures into the original concept for BIXS — by sending back carcass data to producers, they could get some idea of how well their breeding, feeding, and other management programs are working.

But how might that work for something such as animal welfare?

Well, imagine this new enhanced BIXS — let’s call it 3.0 — had transport data loaded in. Want to bet that some smart cookie couldn’t find a way to use that data to figure out which trucking companies do a better job of reducing stress during transport and therefore minimize shrink? Wouldn’t you like to know that?

Actually, most producers would just like to know the basics and get carcass data back. It’s a complaint that comes up over and over again in the recently released straw man followup report conducted by Toma and Bouma. The duo conducted in-depth interviews of more than three dozen industry leaders and experts. (It, along with an FCC survey of cattle producers, is available at www.strawmanbeef.ca.)

Not surprisingly, there were a lot of comments about the “high level of mistrust” between the feedlot and producer sectors. Many pointed to the unwillingness of the feedlot sector to share carcass data with the producers as the symbol of a fractured system.

Well, that’s going to change in a hurry if the McDonald’s pilot goes ahead as envisioned. In order for it to work, there has to be a system-wide sharing of data. And once it’s out there, that big pool of detailed data will be mined — whether it’s to evaluate the performance of a trucking company, or a feedlot, backgrounder, or cow-calf operation.

How this will play out is still an unknown.

Obviously McDonald’s is keen to placate consumers who fret that beef production is bad for the planet or uses poor animal welfare practices.

It’s a radical — albeit entirely unproven — concept that beef sustainability could lead to greater efficiencies and improved profitability for the entire industry.

But wouldn’t it be a kicker if an effort to placate consumers ended up doing that?

The post McDonald’s pilot could usher in overdue reforms appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The exact terms of the pilot — or even a definition of sustainable — have yet to be finalized, but the fast-food giant has the backing of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, and it’s working with the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB), an organization the CCA founded last year.

“It is still in the preliminary stages, so there are a lot of details to be worked out, but everyone is on the same page,” said Ponoka seed stock producer Greg Bowie, who is chair of Alberta Beef Producers and a CRSB member.

“They’re working with industry to come up with something that is sustainable long term, for the entire industry.”

Bowie and others are quick to say that McDonald’s, the largest buyer of Canadian beef, has steadfastly pledged it won’t impose rules on how to raise cattle. Instead, it has promised to work with producers, feeders and packers to create practical guidelines on environmental stewardship, animal health and welfare, and food safety — a process that will likely stretch into next year.

“A lot of these things are going to be things that producers are doing anyhow,” said Bowie. “They’re just going to come up with a means of proving that the producer is doing it.”

The pilot project could have major benefits for Canada because it is the first partner to be selected by McDonald’s, which grabbed the attention of the global beef industry six months ago by announcing it would begin sourcing verified sustainable beef in 2016.

“Whether that’s from Canada, or from anywhere else, they will start buying verified sustainable beef, whatever the definition is,” said Pine Lake cow-calf producer Doug Sawyer, a CCA director and past chair of Alberta Beef Producers.

“What we have to do now is put a definition to this and do it. We’re poised in Canada to capitalize on this.”

Jeffrey Fitzpatrick-Stilwell, manager of sustainability with McDonald’s Canada, declined an interview request. But a company email sent to CRSB members in March stated it “has secured support from the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association for a global McDonald’s project to take place in Canada.”

While most producers may not have to change their production practices, they will have to provide a lot more information about what they do — and the foundation of the new system will be a highly detailed database able to track a host of information on millions of head of cattle.

“One of the advantages to Canada over other countries is that we have our traceability system, we have BIXS 2.0 coming out, and we’ve got a very good environmental system put together,” said Sawyer. “We’ve got our new animal welfare codes of practice. We’ve got almost all the pieces there.”

• From the Manitoba Co-operator: BIXS 2.0 promises easier, faster access to carcass data

Senior officials from McDonald’s headquarters and its Canadian arm toured Alberta last summer and returned again in mid-May, visiting the JBS and Cargill slaughter plants, the company’s hamburger production facility in Spruce Grove, and cattle operations. CL Ranch near Calgary, one of the province’s oldest and most prominent cattle operations, hosted both tours and the first one resulted in CEO Cherie Copithorne-Barnes being asked to head the CRSB.

She also said it’s too early to talk about specifics.

“Even McDonald’s to this point can’t define clearly enough what they are asking for,” she said. “Even though there’s a timeline when they want to get this project started, they want to make sure all the steps are in place and it’s done correctly.”

One of those steps involves changes to the Verified Beef Production program. Program officials announced earlier this year that the on-farm food safety program will add modules for biosecurity, animal care, and environmental stewardship.

“What we’re looking at now, while we’re redoing BIXS 2.0 and the Verified Beef Production, we’re going to have to add some layers in there on the environmental side and work the codes of practice into it,” added Sawyer.

The Canadian pilot is also waiting for the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef to issue a set of principles that will guide development of specific protocols. That group was set up two years ago when McDonald’s, Cargill, JBS, Merck Animal Health, and Walmart partnered with environmental organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund to address beef production issues involving soil and water quality, energy use, animal welfare, and nutrition. It will put forward principles for sustainable beef following a meeting in Brazil in November.

Both the rules for sustainable beef and the verification process have to be practical, said Copithorne-Barnes, adding she emphasized that again during the most recent visit by McDonald’s officials.

“The whole point is to understand and recognize that we don’t have time to add on a bunch of layers to what we already do,” she said. “Our No. 1 priority has to be the welfare of these cattle. And they saw that. They got that.”

They also got a good look at real-life ranching, she said.

“We’re almost done calving here, but we had just come through 12 inches of snow the weekend before, so things aren’t quite looking beautiful here,” she said.

“You can see the mud and you can see the cattle are kind of sad looking because the weather has been so horrible. The whole point of that was to show them that life around here isn’t always green grass, rolling hills and everybody’s always happy.”

Bowie said he is confident everyone working on the pilot “wants to make sure it’s done right.”

“They’re going to take a little bit of time to develop each step, make sure it’s correct, and talk to all of the parties involved,” he said.

Canada is a logical choice, he added, because it has a pristine environment compared to other countries, and the vast majority of the 66 million pounds of Canadian beef purchased by McDonald’s is fed in Alberta, which simplifies things.

Producers who have attended the meetings feel the initiative is going in the right direction, both Bowie and Sawyer said. While McDonald’s presence at the table is important, the goal is to develop a Canadian program that all restaurants and retailers can use, said Sawyer.

“We have everybody covered,” he said the day after attending a May 13 meeting on the initiative. “Everybody who has anything to do with a McDonald’s hamburger was at that meeting yesterday.”

McDonald’s won’t be paying a premium for sustainable beef, but having the company promote awareness of “all of the good things that we do every day to make ourselves sustainable” will benefit all producers, said Sawyer.

“We can’t do that ourselves. We don’t have the budget or the money and nobody wants to listen to us. But if we can partner with our value chain — companies like McDonald’s or whoever that is — they have millions of dollars in advertising to tell our story.”

Some of that is already happening.

Alberta ranchers Dave Solverson and Bob Lowe have already been featured in McDonald’s campaigns. Lowe (who has sat on the CCA’s environment committee) is in a YouTube video entitled “Where McDonald’s Canada gets our hamburger patties from,” (watch below) which got over 90,000 hits, while CCA president Solverson and daughter Joanne were featured on tray liners.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDQYSi5giM8]

“This is the kind of stuff we need in our industry, and the only way we can do it is to partner with the people using our products,” said Sawyer. “That’s why this is such a valuable opportunity here.”

Bowie agrees.

“Any time you get an increase in consumer support and sales for your product, there’s a benefit that goes back to all levels of the industry,” he said. “Everybody will benefit if this thing is done in the right manner.”

McDonald’s will “be putting together a communications package pretty soon” to provide producers with more information, said Copithorne-Barnes.

“McDonald’s has to decide what it is that they want,” she said. “Our role in this isn’t really to say how this pilot project is going to look, because they are going to have to tell us what they need first.

“We’re waiting on that one.”

The post Canada picked for sustainable beef pilot appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Can I participate if my farm Internet connection is dial-up?
Yes… but with a caveat. If your dial-up connection is slow or intermittent, access to BIXS may be problematic. At this time it’s felt that a minimum dial-up connection rate of 56.6 baud uninterrupted will be the baseline. If you are on dial-up and access is problematic then accessing through a third party may be the best approach.

Do I need a premise ID to participate in BIXS?
At present you do not need a premise ID… however, it is strongly recommended.

How can I use the individual animal and carcass data I get back?
A vast amount of the individual animal/carcass data and information you get back through BIXS can be scrutinized to identify opportunities or shortcomings in cow-calf and feedlot management, performance and profitability… Beef software and IT companies, some of which are partnered with BIXS, can take the analysis much deeper and evaluate trends and possibilities that may otherwise be missed were the data not captured and exchanged via BIXS.

More from the Alberta Farmer Express:
Second version of beef database launched

Why would I choose to upload management, health, genetic and other specific information on my cattle?
It enables you to add further description of your cattle to potential buyers, differentiating unique aspects of your animals featuring specific information on your cattle, breeding program, animal health protocols, management, feedlot performance and much more. In time, the negotiated settlement of cattle trade up and down the chain will be based in large part on data on performance, health, genetics, carcass quality and more.

Can I age verify my cattle through BIXS?
Yes. When you enter your animal’s birth date information into BIXS, BIXS automatically forwards this information to your CCIA account. After entry of the birth date information into BIXS you can log into your CCIA account and see your animal birth date information and print off a birth certificate.

The post FAQs on BIXS 2.0 appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“We had to make BIXS more user friendly,” said Larry Thomas. “It had to be compact, fast and on a different platform, and the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association needed to own it outright.”

A reliable and easy-to-use database to capture data from pasture to packing plant is considered by many to be critical to the future success of the Canadian beef sector, and was one of the key recommendations of the Straw Man Beef Industry Initiative task force.

“It is imperative that the common repository be operational, efficient and sustainable,” the task force said in its December report Building a Stronger Canadian Beef Industry.

More from the Alberta Farmer Express:
FAQs on BIXS 2.0

The report recommended the creators of the system be given “until March 2014 to demonstrate that this database and service offering will meet the requirements of the industry.”

The launch of BIXS 2.0 was quietly announced March 28, and Thomas said it is performing well.

The database logs data linked to RFID tags and can include birth dates, premise ID (if the producer chooses to enter it), weight at arrival of a feedlot and departure, slaughter date, hot carcass weight, and grading information. In some cases, “tens of thousands of pieces of information” are uploaded at a time, said Thomas. BIXS 1.0 had trouble handling such volumes. That also prevented many producers who didn’t have high-speed Internet access from using the system.

“That (old) process sometimes would take hours or days,” he said. “In our case (with BIXS 2.0), we’ve seen 3,000 or 4,000 head come over in 15 seconds.”

Old system discontinued

After a lengthy review, the old system was put on hiatus in December 2013.

“We got it to the point where we were getting carcass data to producers linked to that CCIA tag ID,” said Thomas. “But it wasn’t fulfilling what we hoped it would, and we weren’t getting the uptake that we needed.”

Arcurve, a software company from Calgary, was hired to build the new version and did testing with some producers prior to the March 28 soft launch.

The program is free and all of the old BIXS 1.0 accounts have been moved to the new system, which can be accessed by going to www.bixs.cattle.ca. First-time users should email info@bixs2.ca for sign-up information.

There is currently data from about 460,000 animals in the BIXS 2.0 system submitted by cow-calf producers and feedlots, and about 2.8 million detailed carcass records, provided by Cargill’s High River and Guelph plants as well as the JBS plant in Brooks.

The latter contains data such as rib-eye marbling area, carcass score, quality grade, fat thickness, and hot carcass weight.

“This is information that a lot of cow-calf producers have never seen on their animal,” said Thomas.

That data holds the promise of allowing producers to select genetics and make changes in their management to produce higher-value cattle — although getting a premium is still uncharted territory.

“BIXS enables better communication between the cow-calf, feedlot, packing and distribution sectors on an individual animal basis and offers a way for producers to develop business relationships,” states the BIXS website.

“As those business relationships form, premiums may indeed come. The Sourcer Utility query function built into BIXS will spur the development of these business relationships and may well pave the way to premiums being paid for animals meeting a certain spec BIXS member feedlots, buyers, packer/processors and distributors are seeking.”

The system could also connect producers with buyers of premium beef, said Thomas.

“If I’m a boutique retailer and I’m looking for something specific, how can I use BIXS to get in touch with those who produce it?” he said.

“In other words, there’s never really been anything in the industry on a national basis anywhere, that I know of, that would enable blind query of a database in a confidential manner, that would enable me to link up with suppliers for stuff I actually need,” said Thomas.

BIXS 2.0 works on most browsers. The project team is currently making BIXS 2.0 applications for iPhone, iPad and mobile Android systems.

The post Second version of beef database launched appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.