Disagreement about National Cattle Identification

The four-state Range Beef Cow Symposium organized by officials in South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming and Colorado, December 15 and 16 revealed disagreement about the national animal identification scheme. About 500 cattle producers and others heard speakers with different perspectives on the proposal by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to eventually require individual RFID tags on each head of livestock in the country, following the introduction od such schemes from Botswana to Canada and Australia.Linda and Ray Gilbert of the Gilbert Angus Ranch at Buffalo were constructive about the electronic ID system, largely to get back production information on their calves from the destination feedlot but their feedlot operator told them not to bother. They would get the same information back on their calves without the electronic tags because the feedlot could keep track of their calves through their regular ear tags and hot-iron brands.

 

 

USDA argues that a national ID system would be able to trace the movements of a sick animal within 48 hours, from a slaughterhouse or feedlot to the farm or ranch it came from and to other animals it might have exposed or been exposed to.

 

By contrast, Allen Bright, a feedlot owner-operator from Antioch, Nebraska, warned against letting the animal ID issue divide the industry. "The real things that hurt our industry should be from outside," He is the ID coordinator for National Cattlemen's Beef Association, which generally supports a national ID program. He maintained that the national ID system is being proposed primarily as an animal-disease surveillance system, not a marketing or production tool. It is not needed to track animals for mad cow disease, in his view, because only one animal in the entire U.S. herd has been found with the disease even though half a million cattle have been tested.

 

He argued however that national ID system could help contain outbreaks of diseases, such as brucellosis, tuberculosis and foot and mouth disease, that pose a more serious threat to cattle herds.He acknowledged that the individual ID program would be costly for the industry, particularly the producers. "We can choose to get control of this thing and make it work for us, or we can let it go," he said.

 

Mark Harmon, who manages the Joplin Regional Stockyards at Carthage, Mo., which has begun a pilot project using individual animal ID urged the cattle producers to look at individual electronic ID as an opportunity, not a problem. "Whether you like it or not, it's like your mother-in-law: She's coming over." He said the his sale barn wants to be ready to reap the profits when individual animal ID becomes mandatory.

 

Newell area rancher Dave Winkler said he would be interested in an electronic ID system if he could be guaranteed information back from the feedlot and the packing plant about individual calves' production."Otherwise, it's just a cost."

 

The doubts and opposition to national identification schemes, let alone modern data inpuits such as RFID, is in some contrast to practice in much of the rest of the world and forthcoming pan European legislation that will see all four legged livestock RFID tagged within five years.

 

The subject will be aired by Optibrand of the US, The Brazilian Government, the Australian Sheep Commission, those already tagging livrestock in New Zealand and Japan and by others at the major conference Food Traceability, Dallas Feb 1-2. See www.trackingfood.com 

 

Food Traceability 2006 conference will be held on February 1-2 2006 in Dallas, USA. This hot topic is driven by health scares, bioterrorism and new laws. It will become the largest RFID application but we cover DNA and many other vital technologies as well. For further details please visit www.trackingfood.com 

 

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