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ND State Vet on Animal ID

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Anonymous

Guest
Sat, Jun. 10, 2006
MEAT INDUSTRY: Vet calls animal ID proposals overkill
N.D. Board of Animal Health scientist says existing systems could track cattle more efficiently
By Mikkel Pates
Agweek Staff Writer
The North Dakota Board of Animal Health veterinarian is developing a proposal for a "hybrid" animal trace-back system that relies more on existing systems - cattle branding and paper trails on livestock transactions - and not switching immediately to expensive individual electronic tracking for all animals.

The federal government is in the process of implementing a National Animal Identification System. The system is voluntary but could become mandatory. It would be based on a national registration of farms and feedlots, coupled with electronic tags for each animal.

"Maybe we could come up with a hybrid system that recognizes the useful information associated with brand laws and couple that with (electronic) tracking data," says Jim Clement, animal identification coordinator for the board.

"We have a system that actually works quite well because it is associated with title and real dollars," he says.

Clement says a system he envisions would be based on what he calls a "market transaction certificate," a hybrid between a brand certificate and health certificate.

Congress has directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to announce proposed rule making by October, or face losing funding for the program.

Clement is in the process of writing a "white paper" on the topic. He's discussed it with the North Dakota Stockmen's Association and will take it to the Board of Animal Health's June 21 quarterly meeting. The state board could adopt it as a formal recommendation to the USDA.

The draft includes protocols under a variety of real-world scenarios.

In the most recent draft of his paper, Clement argues that if it's really true that the primary goal of the program is for 48-hour trace-back for animal and human disease protection, then the animal health issue is better covered by existing systems - brands in 17 Western states, business invoices and veterinary certificates.

That should be sufficient - probably more effective than electronic tags - for tracking animals that will grow to maturity in two years and be slaughtered. A more complex electronic system would be beneficial for the breeding cattle, for example, that often have a life span of six to 10 years, he says.

Clement notes that ranchers already pay for up-front costs for branding and would continue to do so.

Even when a brand issued in one state is the same or similar to a brand in a neighboring state, it's still possible to track the herd of origin if the government implements premises identification numbers for each farm, which is the first step in the animal ID system.

Clement says the three ways cattle change owners - auctions, "country weigh associations" and direct buy-sell agreements on the farm - all require brand inspections. They also require veterinary health certificates if the animals are moving interstate.

He says if the threat is a disease outbreak, the existing system works well enough because quarantines and depopulation would involve "entire market group cohorts" anyway, so individual information would be overkill. Branding systems already identify these groups.

A large part of the U.S. cattle industry already is "governed by brand laws that have functional systems that already trace group movements and tracking systems that will deal with FMD (foot and mouth disease) more efficiently than a system that could be under construction for many years to come," Clement writes.

Clement says the current animal ID thinking is impractical. "It is assumed that if we just 'electrify' the cattle industry, animal disease investigators will be able to sit in their control room and with the stroke of a key create an electronic report that contains all movement data from the farm or ranch of origin to the current or final destination. Even if this were logistically possible, what would it cost?" Clement writes.
 

Econ101

Well-known member
The USDA can't get a recall on known meat safety issues for the packing industry. How could they be expected to be any better at an ID system?
 

PORKER

Well-known member
Hey Mr. Clement ,Try using www.scoringag.com they can with the stroke of a key create an electronic report that contains all movement data from the farm or ranch of origin to the current or final destination of a single animal or peice of meat.Its as fast as GOOGLE and its cheaper than a slice of bread or do you live in a third world country.
 
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