National ID Is Dead

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

USDA effectively and quietly knocked the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) in the head last Wednesday. It did so with the unheralded publication of the "NAIS User Guide," which replaces all former NAIS draft documents. This document, for the first time, emphasizes NAIS as a voluntary program rather than as a steppingstone to a mandatory one.

In fact, at the very beginning, the guide explains, "USDA is not requiring participation in the program. NAIS can help producers protect the health and marketability of their animals -- but the choice to participate is theirs."

Late last month at a community outreach event in Kansas City, Chuck Conner, USDA Deputy Secretary, and Bruce Knight, USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, paved the way for the agency's back-pedaling.

"Since we've had some confusion on this, we need to be as clear as we can be. This is 'voluntary' with a capital V. Not a currently voluntary, then maybe a mandatory system. This is a permanently voluntary system at the federal level," Conner said.

"We're making it crystal clear that NAIS is voluntary -- no ifs, ands or buts," explained Knight. "Farmers can choose to register their premises. They can choose to participate in individual animal or group identification. And they can opt to be part of tracking. Or not."

The guide goes on to explain, "Participation in NAIS is voluntary at the federal level. Under our current authorities, USDA could make the NAIS mandatory, but we are choosing not to do so -- again, participation in every component of NAIS is voluntary at the federal level. The NAIS does not need to be mandatory to be effective; we believe the goals of the system can be achieved with a voluntary program. As producers become increasingly aware of the benefits of the NAIS and the level of voluntary participation grows, there will only be less need to make the program mandatory."

Absent from the "NAIS User Guide" are the suggested timelines and benchmarks for achieving an effective level of producer participation. Instead, USDA emphasizes its belief that market demands will provide the necessary incentive for participation.

That's possible, though it hasn't been the case, thus far. It's hard to imagine, too, the need commerce will see for a system cohesive and coordinated enough to provide the industry-wide, 48-hour trace-back NAIS was designed to provide. Consequently, the only real incentive for animal ID remains to be the value individual producers see in it for management purposes.

So, it seems NAIS is over, at least for the tenure of the current administration.

You can find the complete "NAIS User Guide" at animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/naislibrary/documents/instructions_guidelines/NAIS-UserGuide.pdf ..

Source: Beef Stocker Trends, [email protected]

Michael J. Baker, PhD, PAS
Beef Cattle Extension Specialist
Cornell University

 

[farmwife]

I saw this last night. I think it's a bad move on USDAs part. Of course, it will be easier on the producer, but I think the lack of national animal ID will be detrimental to the industry in the long run. I figure the marketing aspect is the one that pushed this becoming dead, but I'm just speculating.

 

[Ricker]

Another story on it.

Feds Abandon Mandatory Animal ID Database

Nov 22, 2006 2:16 pm US/Pacific

Feds Abandon Mandatory Animal ID Database

WASHINGTON The Bush administration is abandoning plans to make farmers and ranchers register their cows, pigs and chickens in a nationwide database intended to help limit disease outbreaks.
Faced with widespread opposition, the Agriculture Department said Wednesday the animal tracking program should remain voluntary.
"Really embracing this as a voluntary program ... will help the trust issues that some farmers and ranchers have raised about the national animal identification system," said Bruce Knight, undersecretary for marketing and regulation.
"I'm certainly hoping to move beyond some of the very emotional debates on animal ID," Knight said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Many cattle ranchers are wary of the program because they want records kept confidential and don't want to pay for the system. The industry estimates it could cost more than $100 million annually to register and report the movements of livestock and poultry.
"It is critically important for USDA to explain what the cost of this program will be, and how the proprietary information will be protected, before they go any further," said Bill Bullard, chief operating officer of R-CALF USA, a Western ranchers' group.
"We believe USDA has gone too far, too fast," Bullard said.
Not just individual ranchers are skeptical. The state of Vermont decided in August to hold off on participating in the system because officials were worried about the privacy of farm information.
So far, about 23 percent of the nation's ranches, feed lots, livestock barns and other facilities have registered their premises with the Agriculture Department.
The department's goal is to have all premises registered by January 2008 and to have full participation in the system by January 2009.
The system would identify cattle individually with tags or other devices. There are high-tech ways to monitor their movements, often with radio-frequency ear tags but also with retinal scans of eyes or even DNA testing.
Hogs and poultry could be registered in groups, because that typically is how they move through the food chain.
Last year, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns announced that participation would be mandatory by 2009. Later, Johanns said it would be required someday.
Knight said 2009 is still the goal for full participation.
"I am very confident that this program will stand on its own as a voluntary program," he said.
Knight added: "Unfortunately, I think some of the debate of mandatory versus voluntary has actually distracted folks to the point that it's impeded participation. And I'd much rather just get about the business of making the program operational."
First promised in response to the discovery of mad cow disease in this country, the tracking system would pinpoint an animal's movements within 48 hours after a disease was discovered.
Investigators never found all 80 of the cattle that came to the U.S. from Canada with the infected dairy cow that became the country's first case of mad cow disease in 2003.
There are more than 90 million cows, 60 million hogs and nearly 9 billion chickens in the United States.

 

[Oldtimer]

Here is a post I took off the No Mandatory Animal ID site by another Montanan thats as skeptical about Johanns and USDA as I am...

------------------------------------------------

Tuesday, November 28. 2006

New User Guide
I see that the USDA now has a User Guide out for the NAIS program. It supersedes the earlier Draft that made NAIS mandatory. It can be found here,

NAIS-User Guide

I read it quickly looking it over for the key concepts that were important. There were two words that jumped out at me throughout the document. "Federal level." Here's an example.


When producers consider participating in NAIS, there are three key points to remember in understanding
how this program works:
1) Participation in NAIS is voluntary at the Federal level. There is no Federal requirement for
producers to participate in any aspect of the program.
2) Federal law protects individuals' private information and confidential business information from
disclosure. USDA will continue using its authority to protect individuals' private information and
confidential business information provided by NAIS participants.
3) NAIS is a State-Federal-industry partnership that continues to evolve to meet producer demands.
NAIS works best if there is active involvement and feedback from the States, industry, and
producers.


You see they are very careful to say that NAIS is "voluntary at the Federal level." Such key words. They couldn't stand the heat from producers on the voluntary mandatory issue so what are they doing? Passing it off to the states.

BEWARE, THE FEDS ARE GOING TO PRESSURE THE STATES TO MAKE NAIS MANDATORY.

You see my prediction. we need to work now at the state level to ensure that NAIS does not become mandatory at the state level. Heed my warning, the feds will press so we need to press back harder. Contact your state representatives, Governor and State Veterinary. Express your opposition to mandatory NAIS. Together we can defeat this.

An ear tag never stopped a disease, but together we are stopping the Feds.

 

[Beef11]

I started out leaning in favor of the ID system then i decided i didn't need the goverment encroaching anymore than they already have. I am in favor of a voluntary ID system for global marketing purposes. Mandatory is overstepping.

 

[Oldtimer]

I started out leaning in favor of the ID system then i decided i didn't need the goverment encroaching anymore than they already have. I am in favor of a voluntary ID system for global marketing purposes. Mandatory is overstepping.

I did exactly the same Beef11...As a Brand Inspector I totally support an ID system for livestock- but after seeing the fiasco of a proposed plan USDA had put together I had to oppose it- which like you say involved huge degrees of government encroachment- right down to locking up and making criminals out of little old Grandmas that have 1 pet milk cow that don't want to let the Guvment man on her property...

It was a system that would not work in the marketing scheme of many areas without slowing down commerce greatly to allow it - and something I'm not convinced we need in the form they had proposed...

Many hundreds of thousands of cattle have went out of my state alone- destined for marketing as sourced cattle, both to the Asian and the domestic market, with hot iron brands, some with ranch recorded eartag #'s, and signed affidavits- which the feeder than recorded into his own system of ID (be it eartag, bolus, retinal scanning, etc)...And its been working....

 

[Beef11]

I'm glad someone else saw it the way i did. I remember when the Japanese banned beef and demanded and ID system. I talked to some people (marketing and Goverment) about pushing a voluntary ID system to qualify cattle to go overseas but nobody seemed interested.

 

[skcatlman]

In europe animals are registered and have passports it is very accurate but very time consuming. In canada we have RIF tags that are manditory this system works well as the tags can't be reused but all cattlemen bear the cost directly. If you are caught trying to sell catttle without tags at a market by a brand inspector the fines can be huge. but right now it isn't a big problem everyone is complying.

 

[Oldtimer]

I'm glad someone else saw it the way i did. I remember when the Japanese banned beef and demanded and ID system. I talked to some people (marketing and Goverment) about pushing a voluntary ID system to qualify cattle to go overseas but nobody seemed interested.

The article about dropping the FMD rules against South American countries and the BSE Rule 2 changes that came out in just the past few days has to make you wonder if USDA/APHIS was blowing smoke with their mandatory ID demands that it was needed for US herd safety and eradicating disease outbreaks....If they are so concerned about herd safety why are they so he!! bent to lower the regulations and restrictions on importing beef/cattle from areas all over the world that are higher risk areas of disease :?: :shock:

I heard an interview on the local radio the other day with a Farm Bureau officer-- apparently at their regional convention they had some USDA/APHIS officials as guests and had put them on the hot seat about the same matter....They were asking-If being able to identify and control disease is so important to the USDA, then why are they not doing much more to control it in their own herds- namely the governments buffalo and elk in Yellowstone Park that are infested with Brucellosis and threaten the US cattle herds of 3 states...Instead of continully telling the ranchers to move back- they should be actively controlling this and working toward eradication....

But I suppose there is no Packer lobbyist handing out greenstamps for true animal health control- like they are doing to get more cheap foreign beef access- that they can pass off to US consumers as US beef.....

 

[Beef11]

You got me riled up now, my pet peeve is unfair trade. I'm a believer that imported meat has to meet the same producer requirements as the native meat in that country. If we want to sell to Japan we should satisfy their requirements if mexico wants to come here they play by our rules. Simple really and it levels the playing field.