By ARTHUR HAHN/Managing Editor -Brenham Banner Poess
Sunday January 27, 2007
http://www.brenhambanner.com/articles/2007/01/27/news/news01.prt ***********************************************************
The U.S. Department of Agricul-ture has scrapped plans to implement a mandatory animal identification program.
USDA Undersecretary Bruce Knight said the animal ID/tracking program will be “a permanently voluntary system.”
“We're going to make this successful as a voluntary program,” Knight said. “The key thing here is to have a system that will achieve our objectives of traceability in 48 hours.”
USDA's proposal to implement the mandatory National Animal Identi-fication System was met with widespread condemnation by producers around the country.
A meeting here last September drew more than 200 people, many who said the new program would be “oppressive” to small producers.
The program proposed:
€ Premises registration - Every person who owns or manages locations where livestock, exotic livestock, poultry, or exotic poultry are handled would have to register in a government database or a private database that the government can access.
€ Animal identification - Every animal would have been assigned a unique 15-digit number by the government when they are moved from their herd of origin or commingled with other animals. Each animal would be permanently identified; for most species, requiring a radio frequency ID tag or microchip, rather than traditional, less expensive forms of tagging.
€ Animal tracking - The owner must report, within 24 hours, every time an animal is tagged or a tag is lost, every death or slaughter, every missing animal and every time an animal enters or leaves the property.
The goal of the massive effort to eventually be able to track any animal to its source in a 48-hour time frame in the event of disease outbreak is on track, Knight said.
The first deadline was this month, when USDA set a goal to get 25 percent of all livestock-producing premises registered in databases that the federal government could access in the event of a disease outbreak.
So far, 332,032 premises out of 1.4 million have been registered, according to USDA data. That is about 24 percent and it means USDA has a “fighting chance” of meeting its January goal. USDA hopes to have 70 percent of premises and 40 percent of livestock registered by January 2008. By January 2009 USDA wants 100 percent of all newborn animals identified and 60 percent of all animals under a year old documented.
The 100 percent goal laid out by USDA might not be attainable, Knight said, because of the decision to keep the program voluntary, but he stressed that will not hamper the government's ultimate goal.
State Rep. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) was among the state lawmakers asking for a delay in the mandatory program when it was announced.
Kolkhorst applauded the USDA decision to make it voluntary only but said she would continue to monitor the program.
“Many state lawmakers, including myself, see this national plan to track over 90 million cows, 60 million pigs, and 9 billion chickens across America as being very problematic.
“To ensure that this remains a purely optional program in Texas, I'll be working to see that participation in any a government animal ID program remains only voluntary.
“People need to know they can raise animals on their own land without having the government or an international corporation looking over their shoulder.”