Tip of the Month
March/April 2004
(Archive)

National Animal ID to Become a Reality
Kristy M. Hill
University of Tennessee

Before the first U.S. case of BSE, a national animal identification program had already been discussed and debated for some time. Producers, industry personnel and politicians were straddling the fence on whether the tremendous undertaking was a necessity. Now that the disease has appeared in the U.S., a national program will become a reality, and planning has been put on the fast track. Most now see the importance of being able to track an animal from birth to slaughter. Actually, the U.S. is
behind the times when it comes to a national identification system. New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, 15 countries in the European Union as well as Canada have implemented a mandatory national animal identification system. Other countries are considering a voluntary system.

The goal of the United States Animal Identification Plan (USAIP) is to achieve a “traceback system that can identify all animals and premises potentially exposed to an animal with a Foreign Animal Disease (FAD) within 48 hours after discovery.” The public input stage of the plan's development process has just ended, and the final document is expected to be made public soon. The targets of the USAIP are bison, beef cattle, dairy cattle, swine, sheep, goats, alpacas, llamas, horses, deer, elk, eight species of poultry (including game birds), and eleven species of fi sh. The proposal is to implement mandatory national identification of these animals over the next 2 years.

The first phase of the plan calls for premise identification by July 2004. A “premise” can be thought of as a location that manages and/or holds any of the target animals. The second phase of the plan has two parts: (1) identification of individual animals that are shipped from state to state by July 2005 and (2) identification of individual animals shipped within state commerce by July 2005. The third phase of the USAIP is called “enhanced tracking” and involves radio frequency identification at markets and
slaughter.

There is no doubt that some type of national identification system will occur over the next year. However, at this time, the details are still being ironed out. As soon as a final plan is released, information will be sent to your county Extension agent.