USA CATTLE RETINA
August 1st, 2003
BY PHILIP FINE
GOOD-BYE cattle brand, hello retinal scan. A US company is now marketing a small, hand-held computer that takes retinal images of herds. Denver-based Maverick Ranch Beef has become the first US cattle operation to use the OptiReader and can now keep track of the vaccinations, feeding habits and heritage of its 25,000 cattle (enabling selective breeding), with the process doing no harm to the animal. The device costs about US$1,500 (GBPounds930) with computer software and each scan costs three dollars. The company, Optibrand, is hoping if used on a ...
Full access to this article can be arranged with permission from the client that first ordered it. Please contact us to request access. Entries are uploaded to our archive at least one year after being published by a client – free access is restricted to International News Services journalists for background research only. The article date indicates when copy was filed to a client, not when posted to this archive. Upon client requests, International News Services will remove such articles from the archive or not upload them in the first place. They are included to demonstrate the breadth of topics undertaken by the agency and also to help promote clients’ coverage.