"Since 9/11, American consumers have seen a growing emphasis on the safety of our food supply, and with the outbreaks of avian flu and the scare of BSE, people have become more and more concerned about where their food comes from. Issues like disease control and traceability have captured attention on a national scale, but as with many homeland security issues, food safety measures have raised debate recently on where the line should be drawn between precaution and paranoia.
The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has long been charged with protecting American agriculture. In fact the division of Veterinary Services has had programs in place for years to help monitor animal health while working to prevent, control and eliminate animal disease.
The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is a program designed to take disease control in the marketplace to the next level by incorporating technology and working with the livestock industry to address disease concerns.
The idea behind the NAIS program is that, once in place, it will allow for quick response to livestock disease outbreaks. The more quickly infected premises and animals are located, the more quickly a disease outbreak can be contained. The length of time it takes to gain control over a disease outbreak dictates the extent of the economic losses, market closures, and other social harms it can cause. In other words, time is money for everyone involved — from producer to consumer.
Kentucky's cattle story
The Kentucky cattle industry is one of the leaders in the animal identification and tracking program. The Blue Grass Stockyard in Lexington has a state-of-the-art, totally integrated system, for certified, pre-conditioned Health 45 (CPH-45) cattle sales.
The Kentucky Beef Network and the University of Kentucky sponsor the CPH-45 sales at the Blue Grass Stockyard and have worked with the facility to implement cutting-edge technology to improve the efficiency of the market, making the CPH-45 sales possible.
"We got involved with no knowledge that there was a discussion of animal ID on a federal level," explained Jim Akers with the Kentucky Beef Network. "I guess one of the reasons we are viewed as being leaders in it is we have been willing to step out and bring some of the technology into play."
All the farmers that participate in the CPH-45 sales do so on a volunteer basis to capture a higher market price. They are the progressive cattlemen who have moved forward and tagged their animals, meeting the record-keeping requirements necessary for the export market.
The cattle arrive at the stockyard and are sorted according to size, weight and color. A producer's like animals go through the sale ring, and as they exit, their ID tags are scanned. The data is sent straight into the computer system with corresponding pen/lot numbers. Once a pen/lot is sold, the cattle are loaded and moved on to a feedlot that tracks the next stage of movement.
That one read of the animal ID tag, as the cattle leave the sales ring, gives the stockyard all the necessary reporting information on the animal for the producer, buyer, and in the future, a disease-tracking program.
NAIS program
The NAIS program has three components: premises identification, animal identification, and animal tracking. At this time, all three components of the NAIS program are completely voluntary, although some states have moved to mandate premises identification.
The first component, Premise ID, is the process of assigning a premise number to a farm that has livestock. It is not to be confused with the Farm Service Agency number, in which all farms must have to take part in crop and conservation programs.
The Premise ID is a unique number that will allow the market to link livestock or poultry to a specific premise for disease control once all the NAIS components are in place. At this time, choosing to register premises does not obligate a farmer to participate in the other components of NAIS. However, many marketing programs are requiring premise registration in support of the national program; Kentucky CPH-45 is a good example.
Registering a Premise ID for a farm in Kentucky is easy. Virtually every county extension office, veterinary office and livestock market has the one-page application. Also the University of Kentucky has three extension associates who attend local livestock meetings and assist producers with the application.
The information required from the farmer on the application is basic contact information such as name, address, and number, along with what livestock species are at the location. It does not ask for the number of animals or any financial information about the operation.
Animal identification is the step in which a device, such as an ear tag in cattle, is used to provide a nationally unique number for each animal or group of animals. Animals such as cattle, horses, and goats would be required to have an individual number under the program, but animals such as chickens, swine and aquaculture will only be required to have group numbers in most cases.
There is no requirement in the system to identify an animal in a group or as an individual unless it leaves its premises and moves out into commerce. Even now, it is currently not the responsibility of the producer to report the movement of the animal. At this point, the producer's information is basically reported when the animal ID device is purchased.
Individual animal ID tags are now available for several species. At this time, major growth in this area has been seen in the cattle industry, though it is important to note that the identification practices being implemented in this industry will not necessarily be the standard for all animals. The system is still a work in progress, and the United States and private industry are continuing to fine-tune animal identification so that it will eventually be an option for all species.
Animal tracking will be the final component, and there is much discussion across the United States on how the system will be implemented.
The cattle industry is at the forefront of developing a system that can be used to track cattle as they move through the marketplace. The leaders in this industry believe the solution lies in managing the tracking data in the private sector through a nonprofit entity. This structure provides for industry direction and oversight, while insuring that the program stays focused on the task at hand and operates in a manner that considers the concerns of all sectors of the industry.
The cattle industry system would work in concert with the federal government maintaining the Premise ID database. In the instance that an incident occurred, the federal government could contact the nonprofit and pull the movement data for that number and all other animal ID numbers that have had contact with the diseased animal.
To track and record the movements of all animals in the United States is neither practical nor economical. According to the USDA, the intent with NAIS is to prevent disease spread, period. Therefore at this time, NAIS is only focused on the movement of animals that pose a significant risk of disease transmission.
The NAIS Web site (www.usda.gov/nais) lists several non-risk situations in which they do not recommend reporting the movements of the animals. This includes animals that are moved from pasture to pasture within the farm, animals that break a fence and get out, and animals that are moved from the birth premise direct to custom slaughter, along with animals participating in local fairs or on local trail rides.
NAIS today
When USDA Secretary Johanns spoke at a town meeting in Henry County last month, he emphasized that the NAIS was voluntary. He continued to explain that the USDA sees this as a market-driven program at this time, with the understanding that at some point there will have to be virtually complete participation for this to really work and address the disease control issue.
"Animal ID is coming," stressed Akers. "It is here for many today because the market wants it and is offering premiums for early adopters. We are taking a proactive approach to define how Kentucky producers and markets can deal with the program once it is implemented."
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