A fully-functional traceability systems is based on three pillars: animal identification, premises identification and animal movement. To track an animal and facilitate a fully-functional, national traceability system, every livestock premises must have a valid, premises identification (PID) number in order to report animal movement (e.g., move in, move out, sighted, imported, exported and temporary export events).

Animal identification – Associating a unique animal identification number to an animal (e.g., applying an approved animal indicator to an animal)

Premises identification – Assigning a unique identification number to a physical land location (i.e., legal land description or geo-referenced coordinates) by a provincial/territorial premises registry)

Animal movement – Recording the change in location (i.e., from one unique premises to another unique premises) of a uniquely-identified animal at a specified time/date)