Sehr gut: Optibrand technology makes impression in Germany

FORT COLLINS – Optibrand Ltd. is showing it’s not limited to a domestic audience.
The Fort Collins-based company recently won a gold medal from the German Agricultural Society for its OptiReader, which identifies cattle using retinal patterns.
The award comes on the heels of a distribution agreement between Optibrand and Greeley-based Lextron Inc. Under terms of the deal, Lextron, a major sales and distribution business in the agriculture market, will represent Optibrand products in the United States.
Optibrand officials expect the deal to help grow sales substantially as soon as next year.
On the world scene, Optibrand received one of three gold medals awarded – out of 260 competing companies – at the Eurotier 2004 Innovation Awards. The award recognizes advances Optibrand made in the livestock traceability industry through commercialization of its retinal imaging technology. The company is hoping the medal and its resulting attention will allow Optibrand to expand its European presence.
Traceability and identification for cattle from birth to butcher is a hot topic as a result the discovery last December of a cow in Washington infected with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, commonly known as Mad Cow Disease.
When the Washington Mad Cow case was discovered, most of the world shuttered its borders to American beef and live cows. Since then Mexico, the Philippines, Indonesia and Europe have opened their borders.
European nations have made secure traceability a centerpiece of their production practices and officials with Optibrand want to ensure the Optireader is part of the technology package.
The OptiReader is a combination handheld computer and ocular fundus digital video camera. The user holds the reader in front of the eye of the animal for less than a second. The camera captures an image and the computer stores the image and records the date, time, and location of the animal. The computer contains a global positioning system to provide accurate information.
The reader wand also contains a bar code reader to read codes imprinted on a carcass. Optibrand also developed a wand, which reads any microchips implanted in the cattle.
This information is downloaded to a computer and the customer can use the information to analyze herds and track birth traits. This information is then encrypted into a database to track an animal from birth to feedlot to slaughter.
Optibrand has signed an agreement with Agrosom GmbH to market its products in Germany. Agrosom is based in northern Germany and specializes in traceability solutions for the feed and fresh produce sectors. Optibrand officials said they hope “their expertise will help Optibrand broaden its distribution and market the product to both the regulatory and commercial sectors.”
In America, Optibrand has finalized a contract with Greeley-based Lextron in which Lextron will become an authorized distributor and reseller of Optibrand’s data collection technologies.
In a released statement, Bruce Golden, CEO of Optibrand said, “This partnership will allow Optibrand to expand our sales to the more than 750,000 cow/calf operations, 90,000 feedlots and 60,000 hog operations in this country. At the same time, Lextron will now have access to Optibrand’s state-of-the-art animal ID and data collection system to support the expansion of their Lextron Animal Management Program.”
Lextron will have 10 support people helping customers and supplying them with the products and information they need.
Some of Lextron’s vendors include: Aspen Veterinary Resources Ltd., Bayer, Fort Dodge, Pfizer and Pharmicia Animal Health.
“Signing this deal with Optibrand provides us with another value-added item,´ said Neal Valencia, manager of Lextron’s information systems division.
“They have a nice product which not only gives a retinal scan but the camera can also take pictures for dentition records and it can identify ear tags and brands,” he said. “The GPS feature offers proof of the location of the pictures for a secure identification system.”
Optibrand chose to market and distribute through Lextron because it is a local company and because it has established relationships with cattlemen and cow/calf operations.
“They have a national coverage of feed lots and a sales force of over 100 that distributes not only ear tags but also distributes some computerized feed mixers,” Optibrand’s Golden said.
According to Golden, there are close to 20,000 feedlots in the United States and 900,000 cow/calf operations. The agreement with Lextron will allow Optibrand to garner national exposure without the expense involved in hiring a full-fledged sales crew.
“We are anticipating substantial growth this year and 75 percent of our growth will be driven by the domestic market,” Golden said. “We anticipate sales through Lextron will account for 50 percent of this growth.”

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